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THE 

AMERICAN GUILD 



The next step in popular government. 

A twentieth century solution of 

the trust problem. 



By THOMAS M. BUTLER. 



Price 15 Cents. 



CHICAGO 

PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR 

P. O. BOX IO93. 



H* > 



*\ \ 












JOHN F. HIGGINS PRINTER, BINDER 




196-198 S. CLARK STREET, CHICAGO 



* *■ c 
t, e 
■ t » 



Copyright, 1904, 

by 
Thos. M. Butler. 





PREFACE 








N THIS book, the author seeks to 
explain what effects the amendment 
proposed herein will, if adopted, have 
on the various matters. Preceding 
and following the body of the book are 
statistical tables and other documents, for 
convenient reference by the reader* 

No doubt many defects will be found in 
the style and texture of the garment in which 
the ideas are presented. The author is a 
working man and lays no claim to literary 
excellence. For these deficiencies we beg 
indulgence, and hope that the central motive 
of the book — the desire to modestly serve 
the American Republic and help to make it 
the model for the world — will be slight com- 
pensation for the book's shortcomings, and 
worthy the attention of the reader and the 

labor of 

The Author. 



Chicago, Dec. 26, 1903. 



INDEX. 

Page 

Preface 3 

Material Progress of the United States (table) 6 

"Wealth and Who Owns It" (diagram) 8 

The American Guild 9 

Introductory 9 

General Principles . . . = 13 

The Guild Amendment 19 

Plan and Scope of the Guilds , 20 

The Guilds Described — 

1— Agricultural Guild .' 22 

2— Manufacturing Guild 23 

3— Transportation Guild 27 

4— Building Guild 28 

5— Mining Guild 29 

6— Marine Guild 30 

7— Service Guild 30 

8— Professional Guild 31 

9— Traders' Guild 31 

Other Guilds ; 32 

Wages and Hours 32 

Money... 32 

Old age Pensions 33 

Subsidiary Associations 33 

Public Employes 33 

Immigration 33 

Direct National Operation 34 

Party of Exchanges 34 

Unemployed 34 

How it May be Done 35 

Prac icability 39 

Questions Answered — 

Why an Amendment? 41 

Equal Wage 41 

Who Will Do the Dirty Work ? 42 

Standards of Value ,. 42 

Internal Revenue Taxes 45 

Tariffs on Imports 46 

Patents , 46 

Lessened Crime 46 

Notes on "Various Subjects — Law— Medicine— Art, Drama, Amuse- 
ments — Freedom of Speech— Authors and Lecturers— Exclusive 
Corporations— Rierhts of States— Strikes— Panics — Over Produc- 
tion—Ex-Post Facto Laws— Savings Banks — Loose Capital — 
Adulteration — Competency— Initiative— Trusts ~ Surplus— Army 

and Navy 47 

What the Guilds Will Not Do 51 

Moral Effect 51 

Political Action 52 

Other Systems and " Remedies "— 

Free Competition 54 

Under Protection 57 

Under Free Trade 58 

Single Tax 58 

Socialism 61 

Trades Unions , 64 

A Word to the Wise Capitalist : 66 

Appendix— 

What Governor LaFollette Says , 69 

Constitution of the United States 72 

Amendments to the Constitution — 79 

Declaration of Independence 83 



MATERIAL PROGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



[From tables prepared by O. P. Austin, chief of bureau of statistics, treasury 

department, Washington.] 



Area, Population, Industry. 



1890. 



*Area sq. m. 

Population 

Population per square mile 

Wealth dols. 

Wealth per capita dols. 

Public debt, less cash in treas- 
ury dols. 

Debt per capita, less cash in 

treasury dols. 

Interest-bearing debt dols. 

Annual interest charge dols. 

Gold coined dols. 

Silver coined dols. 

Gold in circulation dols. 

Gold certificates in circulation. dols. 

Silver in circulation dols. 

Silver certificates in circula- 
tion dols. 

IT. S. notes (greenbacks) out- 
standing dols. 

National bank notes outstand- 
ing (October 31) dols. 

Circulation of money dols. 

Circulation per capita dols. 

National banks, January 1 No. 

National banks, capital dols. 

Bank clearings, New York dols. 

Bank clearings, total U. S dols. 

Deposits in national banks dols. 

Deposits in saving banks dols. 

Depositors in savings banks No. 

Farms and farm property, 

value , dols. 

Farm products, value dols. 

Manufactories No. 

Manufactures in U. S., value., .dols. 
Receipts— Net ordinary. ...... .dols. 

Customs dols. 

Internal revenue , dols. 

Expenditures— Net ordinary., .dols. 

War dols. 

Navy dols. 

Pensions dols. 

Interest on public debt dols. 

Imports of merchandise dols. 

Imports per capita .... .dols. 

Exports of merchandise dols. 

Exports per capita dols. 

Imports of silks, raw lbs. 

Rubber, crude lbs. 

Tin plates lbs. 

Iron, steel and manufactures 

of dols. 

Exports— Iron, steel and manu- 
factures of dols. 

Agricultural products dols. 

Manufactures dols 

Farm animals, value dols. 

Cattle No. 

Horses No. 

Sheep No. 

Mules No. 

Swine No. 



1900. 



3,025,600 

62,622,250 

20.70 

65.037,091,000 

1,038.57 

890,784,370.53 

14.22 
725,313,110 

29,417,603 

20,467,183 

39,202,9( '8 

374,258.923 

130,830,859 

110,311,336 

297,556,238 

346,681,016 

179,449,958 

1,429,251,270 

22 82 

3,351 

623,791,365 

37,660,686,572 

58,845,279,505 

1,485,095,856 

1,524,844,506 

4,258,893 

16.082,267,689 

2,460,107,454 

355,415 

9,372,437.283 

403,080,983 

229,668,585 

142,606,706 

261,637,203 

44,582,838 

22,006,206 

106,936,855 

36,099,284 

789,310,409 

12 35 
857,828,684 

13 50 
7,347.909 

33,842,374 
680,060,925 

41,679,591 

25,542,208 

629,820,808 

151,102,376 

2,418,766,028 

52,801,907 

14,213,837 

44,336,072 

2,331,027 

51,602,780 



1902. 



3,025 600 

76,303,387 

25 2P 

94,300,000,000 

1,235 86 

1,107,711,257.89 

14.52 

1,023,478,860 

33,545,130 

99,272,943 

36,295.321 

610,806,472 

200,733,019 

142,050,334 

408,465,574 

346,681,016 

331,580,183 

2,055,150,998 

26.93 

3.606 

608,588.045 

51,964,588,564 

84,582,450.081 

2,623,997,522 

2,449,547,885 

6,107,083 

20,514,001,838 

3,764,177,706 

512,734 

13,039,279,566 

567,240,852 

233,164,871 

295,327,927 

447,553,458 

134,774,768 

55.953,078 

140,877,316 

40,160.333 

849,941,184 

10 88 

1,394,483,082 

17.96 

13,043,714 

49,377,138 

147,963,804 

20,478,728 

121,913,548 

835,858,123 

433,851,756 

2,981,054,115 

67,804,022 

18,266,140 

61,605,811 

3,366,721 

62,876,108 



3,025,600 

79,003,000 

26.11 



969,457,241.04 

12.27 

931,070,340 

27,542,945 



629,271,532 
307,110,929 
151,436,658 

446,650,243 

346,681,016 

$356,672,091 

2,246,529,412 

28 40 

4,337 

670,164,195 



3,111,690,196 



562,478.233 
254,444,708 
271,880,122 
442,101,559 
112.272,216 

67,803,128 
138,488,560 

29,108.045 

903,327,071 

11.43 

1,381,719,401 

17 49 

14,230,708 

50,413,481 
198,996,086 

27,180,255 

98,552,562 
851,460 312 
403,890,763 



MATERIAL PROGRESS OF THE UNITED STATE S-Cont'd. 



Area, Population, Industry. 



Production of gold dols. 

Silver dols. 

Coal » tons 

Petroleum gais. 

Pig iron , tons 

Steel tons 

Tin plate lbs. 

Copper tons 

Wool lbs. 

Wheat bu. 

Corn bu. 

Cotton bales 

Sugar tons 

Sugar consumed tons 

Cotton taken by mills bales 

Cotton exported lbs. 

Railways in operation miles 

Passengers carried No. 

Freight carried 1 mile tons 

Passenger cars No. 

Freight cars No. 

American vessels built tons 

In foreign trade tons 

In domestic trade tons 

On great lakes tons 

Vessels through "Soo" canal. . . 
tonnage 

Commercial failures No 

Liabilities dols. 

Postoffioes , No. 

Postoffice receipts dols. 

Telegraphic messages sent No. 

Newspapers and periodicals pub- 
lished No. 

Public school salaries dols. 

Patents issued No. 

Immigrants > No. 



1890. 



32,845.000 

70,4fi5.000 

140,866,931 

1,924,552,224 

9,202,703 

4,277.071 



1900. 



115,966 

276,000,000 

399,262,000 

1,489,970.000 

7.311,322 

136,503 

1,476,377 

2,325,000 

2,471,799,853 

166,654 

520 439,082 

79,192,985,125 

21,664 

1,099,205 

294,122 

946.695 

3.477,802 

1,063,063 

8,454,435 

10,907 

189,856,964 

62,401 

60,882.097 

55,878,762 

16,948 

91,836.484 

26,292 

455,302 



79,171,000 

74,533,495 

240,965.917 

2,661,233,568 

13.789,242 

10,188,329 

677,969.600 

270,588 

288,636,621 

522,229.505 

2,105,102,516 

9,436,416 

149,229 

2,219.847 

3,644,000 

3,100,583,188 

194,321 

584,695,935 

141,162,109,413 

26,786 

1,358,467 

393,790 

826,694 

4,338,145 

1,565,587 

22,315,834 

10,774 
138,495,673 

76,688 

102,354,579 

63,167,783 

20,806 

136,031,838 

26,499 

448,572 



1902. 



+80,218,800 
+77.128,120 
+261,677,961 
+2,914,346148 
+15, S 78, 354 
+13,473,595 



+266,716 

+302,502,328 

+748,460,218 

+1,522,519,891 

+10,383,422 

188,665 



3,500,778,763 

201,839 

607,278,121 

147,077,136.040 

35,969 

1,464,328 

+483,489 

+889,129 

+4,635,089 

+1,706,294 

+24,626,976 

+11,002 

+113,092,376 

+76,945 

+111.631,193 

+83,555,122 

21,708 



+27,373 
648,743 



♦Exclusive of Alaska and islands belonging to the United States, 
tin 1901. JJuly 1. 



T5he 
American Guild 

INTRODUCTORY 



That society should control industry and trade with 
the object of promoting the welfare of its members is 
indisputable. Therefore it is natural that, in the pres- 
ence of the evils of centralization of industrial power 
in few hands and the corresponding dependence of the 
masses, we should consider whether, and how, society 
may lessen or remedy these evils. 

There are many plans of reform suggested, along 
various and diverse lines, from the extreme of social- 
ism, in which the state is sole proprietor and director, 
to the opposite extreme of the "laissez-faire," or let- 
alone, competitive school. Each of these has numerous 
supporters and an extensive literature, and is worthy 
of serious consideration; the author, however, differs 
from each of them on some essential point of principle 
or policy, and takes this opportunity to offer the Guild 
plan of industrial salvation. 

Most of our citizens realize the necessity for a 
change, but are skeptical as to the feasibility of the 
various remedies advanced, and because of this the 
evils are permitted to continue, in the hope that in some 
way, at some time, things will right themselves. But, 
alas ! history shows that rarely have evils righted them- 
selves, and in most cases revolution and bloodshed 
were the means through which 'reforms," generally 
more or less illusory, were made effective. 

In considering plans for reform, it does not appear 
necessary that we demand entirely new and untried 
schemes, possibly fraught with peril to our stability or 



progress. It may, perhaps, be more profitable to con- 
sider how the political and industrial forms in present 
use may be improved in such manner as discreet radi- 
calism will suggest, to the end that we shall surely 
progress in the future. 

It is not advisable to destroy the rowboat because the 
steamship has been invented, nor the cart because the 
railroad has been constructed, nor the small industry 
because the trust has been formed. The rowboat has 
its uses still, likewise the cart and the small industry. 
So, in industrial philosophy, although competition is 
productive of many evils when it is allowed full sway, 
and is gradually being replaced by devices that check 
or destroy it, it may have its necessary uses and should 
be considered in our industrial order. So, likewise, the 
opposite extreme, monopoly, while it is productive of 
many injustices when unrestrained, may be made use- 
ful when guided into' proper channels. The evil in the 
one may be neutralized by the good in the other. 

Since none of the doctrinaire industrial philosophies 
satisfies the exactions of the majority of citizens, may 
they not find in all what they fail to find in one ? May 
not "eclecticism" be introduced into industrial econ- 
omy, as in medicine or any other branch of human 
knowledge ? 

And inasmuch as evils do not, generally speaking, 
right themselves except through violence, and then fre- 
quently at a cost that beggars the contestants, should 
not "common-sense" impel men to get together and, if 
necessary, compromise, rather than permit evils to cul- 
minate in class wars and revolutions ? 

The American Guild is presented as a plan which 
enables advocates of the divergent classes and schools 
to combine, without serious compromise of their re- 
spective interests or doctrines. The single-taxer will 
find in the Guilds democratic control of national utili- 
ties and natural monopolies, while permitting competi- 
tion and individual initiative, where they are advisable ; 
the socialist will find in the democratic base on which 
the Guilds rest a sure foundation for such general con- 
trol as will be deemed necessary; the advocate of rea- 
sonable competition will find it adapted to humane 
uses ; the farmer, the miner, the mechanic, the shop- 
keeper, the members of the professions will find secur- 

10 



ity and protection; and the capitalist will find just 
compensation for his property when it is converted fo 
public use. 

To say that government is autocratic, or aristocratic, 
or plutocratic, or democratic, is to say that the feud- 
atory power is in control of that class. Lapses from 
any one of these forms are more apparent than real, as 
is exemplified in the present day in the United States, 
where, under the name of democracy, plutocratic 
feudalism prevails. 

Just as mediaeval (autocratic or aristocratic) feudal- 
ism has been almost destroyed by the economic 
changes which have produced plutocratic feudalism, 
so is the latter (which lacks the beneficent features of 
its predecessor, and because of this is more open to 
attack) withering before the spread of education and 
the onslaught of modern criticism. 

The Hon. Henry B. Brown, Associate Justice of the 
United States Supreme Court, addressing the Yale 
Law School, said : 

"If no student can light his lamp without paying 
tribute to one company; if no housekeeper can buy a 
pound of meat or of sugar without swelling the re- 
ceipts of two or three all-pervading trusts, what is to 
prevent the entire productive industry becoming ul- 
timately absorbed by a hundred gigantic corpora- 
tions?" 

The legal aspect of plutocratic feudalism is ex- 
pressed in the above quotation. What its social and 
moral aspects are may be summed up in these words of 
the late Pope Leo XIII : 

"There can be no question whatever about it, that 
some remedy must be found, and found quickly, for the 
misery and wretchedness pressing so heavily and so 
unjustly, even at this moment, on the vast majority of 
the working classes. * * * The custom of work- 
ing by contract, and the concentration of so many 
branches of trade in the hands of a few individuals, 
have brought about a condition of things by means of 
which a small number of very rich men have been en- 
abled to lay upon the masses of the laboring poor a 
yoke little better than that of slavery itself." 

Pope Leo speaks of world-conditions ; Judge Brown 
speaks of conditions in the United States, where be- 
ll 



cause of the newness of the country, and sparseness of 
population, the majority of citizens are not as hard 
pressed as are the peoples in older lands ; but if the 
legal status of industry referred to by Judge Brown 
exists in the United States, the ' 'misery and wretched- 
ness" referred to by Pope Leo are sure to follow, nat- 
urally. 

Many other eminent authorities might be quoted to 
show how the present order is being attacked, but the 
mass of the people are so largely conversant with them 
that it is unnecessary to quote further. The persist- 
ency and vehemence with which plutocratic feudalism 
is being assailed must lead to radical changes in the not 
remote future. 

Whether plutocratic feudalism shall peacefully merge 
into another form, or shall depart in scenes similar to 
the French Revolution, is to be determined only by a 
knowledge of the future psychological as well as of the 
present economical influences. 

But if, as economists believe, the form of govern- 
ment expresses the industrial and intellectual status of 
its constituents, it will, in the future, in the United 
States, be democratic feudalism, of such form and 
function as will permit of the greatest freedom com- 
patible with the greatest security and practicability. 

An appreciation of this tendency is being formed in 
the minds of the masses, and is crystallized in the fol- 
lowing inquiry : 

If all the essential features of mediaeval feudalism 
are developed in modern industry, and power is cen- 
tralized in few hands, but without compensating duties, 
is it not better for the nation that this centralized 
power should be administered democratically, rather 
than autocratically?* 

♦Quotations from an essay by Professor Oscar L. Trijrgs, of the Univer- 
sity of Chicaero: 

1. An industrial order is now being established which corre- 
sponds in all essential respects with what is known in political 
history as feudalism. 

2. The political order, so far as it is shaped by the same indi- 
viduals who control industry, partakes also of the nature of 
feudalism ; hence the recrudescence in the United States of the 
principles of Hamilton and the dominance of the Republican 
party. 

3. When the feudalistic tendency culminates into the establish- 
ment of a centralized control of industries, then the conscious and 
deliberate appropriation of that power by the people will begin, 
till worJc becomes free and the worker self-directive. 

4. Biology and psychology testify to the ultimate triumph of 
the principle of self-activity. In other words, all the forces of 
national evolution are on the side of the people, 

12 



Believing that the above question will be answered 
in the affirmative, and that democratic feudalism will 
prevail, and that — as is argued in subsequent pages — 
it will be in a form that will recognize the good, the 
practical, features of the several industrial systems — 
not the strictly competitive nor the strictly socialistic, 
but a judicious combination of all — the author feels 
that, in this book, he is describing, in a more or less 
crude and disjointed way, at least a practicable if not 
the most probable next step in popular government — 
the American Guild. 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 

i. Labor — Man lives by labor and, therefore, pos- 
sesses the natural right to labor ; a denial of the right 
to labor is a denial of the right to live. 

2. Liberty — Liberty is to be unrestrained in the right 
to labor, and to enjoy the fruits of that labor ; to free- 
dom of speech and action ; always with due regard to 
the equal rights of others. 

3. Government — The chief function of government 
is to protect the members of society to their right to 
Liberty; and whenever any form of government be- 
comes destructive of this end "it is the duty of the peo- 
ple (society) to alter or to abolish it and to institute 
new governments, organizing its powers in such form 
as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety 
and happiness." 

4. Capital — Capital is a creation of labor, and the 
sole justification of its creation and conservation is 
as an instrument of labor ; therefore labor is to be con- 
sidered before capital, and any reversal of this order is 
unnatural and destructive.* 

*(From Record-Herald, Dec. 10, 1903.) 

"The only thing that deserves financial reward is labor. Capi- 
tal, as such, deserves none. The political economists' long standing 
theory concerning the productivity of capital has been the basis 
for an unlimited number of fallacies in social thinking and adjust- 
ing. The only just basis of reward is production. Capital is only 
a machine that helps labor in producing. The present legal right 
that capital enjoys is all wrong. Capital has this legal right 
simply because our statutes give the right. There is nothing mor- 
ally right about it." 

Such are some of the conclusions reached by Dr. Albion W. 
Small, head professor of sociology at the University of Chicago, 
who, in a talk before the seniors at chapel yesterday, made deduc- 
tions that were accepted as extremely radical. 

Professor Small said further : 

"The payment of a reward to capital is not an individual right. 
The capitalist does not get a reward because he has a right to it, 

13 



Each person has a natural right to life and liberty, 
measured by the corresponding rights of others. The 
"measurer' ' is government. "Life and liberty" involve 
industrial and personal relations ; government, there- 
fore, controls these. 

Power and property belong, in the last analysis, t 
the nation, the people, — or, as English law expressed 
it, to the crown, representing the people. This feudal- 
ists base belongs, in fact, to all forms of civilized gov- 
ernment, although it is obscured at present. Destroy 
the sanction of government to titles to property, or to 
rational personal relations, and anarchy will ensue; the 
strong will overwhelm the weak; brute force will be 
supreme. 

Government, then, has the right — and it experiences 
the necessity — of conducting or regulating industry. 
Where a particular system is permitted, it is because 
society, through government, believes that it operates 

but' because society considers it a social convenience. Reward 
for labor is a personal right and not a contract right. Not until 
this principle is accepted will there be a just basis for reward. 
The idle capitalist is not a producer, no matter what the receipts 
on his bonds amount to. This money is only a means to an end. 
Money will buy mills to help labor, but it is not the mill that 
produces — it is the labor. 

"At the present society is willing to let the owners of capital, 
like those who inherit it, loaf around. These loafers may be put 
into two classes, viz., those that do not work at all, but live on 
the interest of their money, and those that do some work to advance 
their enterprises bought by inherited wealth. The time will come 
when the idlers will get no reward and the semi-idlers will only 
get reward for what they do. The public will rule that the only 
incomes that are just are wages earned or salaries of public offi- 
cials. 

"New laws, based on moral rights, should determine property 
privileges. This would establish a property right for labor, just 
as capital has a legal right today. There is nothing right in the 
law that permits an enormous amount of capital to be organized 
into a corporation, then to be protected by legal rights, which, 
when they are applied to an individual, can be called nothing but 
moral rights, or the common right to work for a living. 

"There is no equality where one man with a million of inherited 
capital can determine the weal of a thousand of his fellow men. 
The personal element must control and not the money's worth. 

"The non-producer should not be entitled to one cent. Every 
man who does work should be entitled to what he earns. If his 
wage is a moderate one and his ability to produce enormous it Is 
not just to say that his wage shall be determined by the man 
with the capital back of him instead of his real personal worth. 
Slo long as capital determines the wage it will be an unjust wage. 

"This is not a socialistic theory, for I believe in individual 
worth and that the individual should be rewarded to the extent 
of his ability to produce. The sort of justice that gives the same 
income to a man who never works as to the laborer who toils for 
his wages is a very questionable sort of justice. 

"Our ideas concerning the distribution of wealth must be re- 
vised or we must regulate the power and the worth of this wealth. 
Ability to produce and not the ability to consume must become 
the real test of merit, legally as well as morally. 

"First must come a radical change in our ideas concerning 
property rights, then the other will speedily follow." 

14 



for the greatest good. Tariffs, licenses, charters, or 
permits, are common in almost all countries, in almost 
all businesses, and are a logical exercise of govern- 
mental power. 

These main propositions — individual right, meas- 
ured by government sovereignty exercised in equity — 
are uncontrovertible. To deny them is to deny the 
need for government. 

Holding, as we do, that democracy is impossible 
save through application of these principles, and that 
their opposites are class rule, plutocracy and tyranny, 
with all their demoralizing and debasing effects on the 
bodies, minds and morals of the masses, we unquali- 
fiedly assert that if "Americanism" means anything it 
means that this government, to be truly American, must 
be carried on in such manner as will permit practical 
application of these general principles. 

That it is not carried on in accordance with these 
principles is apparent to every student of existing 
conditions. Labor, instead of being the master, is the 
servant — aye, the bondman, the vassal — that is only 
tolerated on the condition that it shall retreat to ob- 
scure places ; while capital, the instrument, inert, with- 
out life, incapable of creation or maintenance save 
through the potentiality of labor, fills the high places, 
enunciates industrial creeds with a view to its contiued 
dominance, blasphemes liberty and perverts natural 
law. 

This is so notorious that it is a matter of common 
comment. In spite of bribed lawmakers, purchased 
journalists and criminal electoral methods — all the ef- 
fects of a common cause — the masses of the people 
are aware that, like the genii released from the bottle, 
in the "Arabian Nights," an overwhelming black shade 
obscures the governmental sky. 

Into every nook and corner of the land reaches the 
hand of criminal monopoly, pilfering the pockets 
of the farmer, the miner, the mechanic, the profes- 
sional man, the young and the old, the widow and the 
orphan, and appropriating not only the accumulations 
of the past and present generations, but capitalizing the 
possibilities and necessities of our successors. 

The people are aware of and denounce the evil com- 
binations which oppress them, but seem powerless to 
protect themselves. This is due, first, to the system 

15 



consequent on our plan of federated, autonomous states, 
and the lack of grasp by the ordinary citizen of the 
workings of the federal power, thus permitting manipu- 
lators to control the machinery of our state and national 
governments; and, secondly, because of the failure of 
political reformers to advance propositions which ap- 
peal to the masses as feasible when applied to our in- 
dustrial and political forms. 

Thus we drift on, year after year, the only forces 
that seem to possess any potency or permanency being 
those that are predatory and in violation of the genuine 
American spirit. 

(See Appendix, "Governor La Follette.") 
The right to life implies the right to labor, as a free- 
man, subject to conditions that shall assure the same 
right to all. To say, with the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, that men are entitled to "life, liberty and the 
pursuit of happiness," and at the same time legalize 
conditions which act as a denial of those rights, is a 
mockery, and an aspersion not only on the intelligence 
of the Fathers who advanced it but on the patriotism 
of their descendants who countenance the deception. 

To be available, any plan of general reform must 
possess these attributes : 

1. It must be of such a nature as will appear to be 
practicable, industrially, to the average voter. 

2. It must be presented in forms with which the 
majority are familiar in their usual political concep- 
tions and activities. 

3. It must appeal to a sufficiently large majority of 
the people to overcome the inertness and prejudices of 
the legislative and judicial powers. 

The object of this book is to present a plan, based on 
this conception of natural rights and popular govern- 
ment, that will harmonize with the spirit and form of 
American institutions. The Federal Constitution is 
the rock on which our national and state governments 
rest. It is the center and focus of all our legal enact- 
ments. Its object is to maintain peace, order, unity, 
protection, liberty, natural rights. The dutiful citizen 
will respect its requirements ; if these are inadequate, 
or burdensome, they may be amended. 

The Guild amendment is offered in this spirit, and is 
exactly what it appears to be — a plan to extend the 

16 



power of Congress, so as to permit it to delegate to 
certain chartered organizations exclusive right to carry 
on industries democratically, by and for the people, 
rather than autocratically, as at present, by and for 
private monopolists and trusts. 

We propose that the farmers shall control their 
farms and products; that the railroaders shall control 
the properties they operate ; that the miners shall con- 
trol the mines they exploit ; that the builders shall con- 
trol the industries they conduct ; that the fishermen and 
the mariners shall control the 4 enterprises they carry on; 
that the various branches of service shall control their 
means of livelihood; that the professional classes shall 
control their respective lines of talent and usefulness — 
each in a manner that shall permit of the greatest 
equity and practicability — and all of them bound in a 
way that shall assure the greatest reciprocity, mutual 
good-will and protection, re-enforced by provisions for 
profitable employment during health, and competency 
in old age. 

In doing this we comply with constitutional proced- 
ure, with accepted ideas of just compensation for prop- 
erty, with the teachings of advanced political science 
and with the necessities of modern industry. 

If the Guild amendment is adopted, the Executives, 
Senates, Houses of Representatives, Courts and other 
branches of the National, State and Municipal govern- 
ments will remain as at present; also the laws, except 
where they will be modified or become defunct through 
the law authorizing the Guilds. This will operate 
only in the industrial sphere, as it is not contemplated 
to interfere with national or local regulations or tariffs, 
sumptuary laws, suffrage, personal relations of citi- 
zens, etc. 

Guilds, in feudal days, were chartered associations of 
persons engaged in various trades or professions, and 
the word is used here because it is familiar to the pub- 
lic' and expresses fairly well the form of corporation 
proposed. 

The Guilds are called American because they are, 
generally, restricted to the United States, and, also, be- 
cause good citizenship, like charity, begins at home. 



17 



THE GUILD AMENDMENT 

The powers vested in Congress are described in Ar- 
ticle I., Section viii, of the Constitution. As it will be 
argued that Congress has not, at present, power to 
grant exclusive rights to the Guilds, we have prepared 
an amendment — Article XVI. — giving Congress the 
necessary power. Possibly, it is not definite enough 
to suit all minds, but it is subject to alteration at the 
suggestion of well-wishers. The intention is more to 
present to the mind of the reader an outline of the pre- 
posed amendment than to show its ultimate form. 

There are nine Guilds provided for, w r ith provision 
for additional Guilds, if necessary. The Guilds are: 

i. Agricultural Guild. 

2. Manufacturing Guild. 

3. Transportation Guild. 

4. Building Guild. 

5. Mining Guild. 

6. Marine Guild. 

7. Service Guild. 

8. Professional Guild. 

9. Traders' Guild. 

There are, in the amendment, other sections, provid- 
ing for regulation of conditions of labor, issuance of 
asset currency, and creation of pension and employ- 
ment bureaus. 

The Guild amendment follows : 

Proposed Amendment to the United States Constitution. 

( For present Constitution see Appendix.) 

AR.TICLE XVI. 

Section i. Congress shall have power to organize 
into Guilds the various trades, professions, or pursuits, 
and to grant to each Guild, respectively, sole and ex- 
clusive control of all the matters designated in its 
charter, which shall include: Conditions of employ- 
ment ; wages ; power to rent, lease, license, operate, 
control, purchase, condemn, or own, any or all of the 
things necessary to carry out the provisions of this 
Article XVI., subject to regulation by Congress ; pro- 
vided, that whenever any property is secured through 
condemnation proceedings and bonds are issued in 
lieu of cash money, the deferred payments represented 

13 



by such bonds shall bear interest at the rate of not less 
than 3-! per centum per annum, and the principal shall 
be payable in not to exceed thirty years ; and provided 
further, that the interest on such deferred payments 
shall be the first charge, and the sinking fund for the 
acquirement of the principal sum shall be the second 
charge, against the property so bonded. 

Sec. 2. Congress shall, within two years after the 
adoption of this article XVI. organize Guilds accord- 
ing to each of the following general classifications or 
groupings : 

Group A. — Agricultural Guild — All forms of animal 
or food production ; irrigation ; forestry ; canning, 
packing, etc. ; excepting fish and fisheries. 

Group B — Manufacturing Guild — All forms of man- 
ufacturing not granted to another Guild. 

Group C — Transportation Guild — All modes and 
means of transporting or sending freight, passengers 
or messages, not granted to another Guild. 

Group D — Mining Guild — All forms of mining, 
smelting or refining of minerals, mineral earths or 
oils, not granted to another Guild. 

Group E — Building Guild — All forms of planning, 
erecting, repairing or demolishing buildings or other 
construction; water, gas, electrical and other lighting 
works ; sewering, paving, etc. ; and other works neces- 
sary to such industries ; when not granted to another 
Guild. 

Group F — Marine Guild — All forms of fishing, and 
canning or preserving the products of fisheries ; trans- 
portation of freight and passengers, etc., by water. 

Group G — Service Guild — All forms of domestic or 
personal sevice, not included in another Guild. 

Group H — Professional Guild — Lawyers, doctors, 
artists, musicians, actors, educators, clergymen, au- 
thors, etc. 

Group I — Traders' Guild — Middlemen, agents, etc., 
when not included in another Guild. 

Sec. 3. Congress shall have power to' transfer any 
industry from the control of any Guild to the control of 
another Guild, or may retain in its exclusive control, 
directly or indirectly, or otherwise, any industry or any 
group, except authors and religious teachers. 

Sec. 4. Congress shall at all times have power to 
regulate : The minimum rate of wages ; the maximum 

19 



hours of employment, for or in any given period ; max- 
imum prices of the products or of the services of any 
Guild; appoint experts to supervise and direct the re- 
ceipts and disbursements and funds of the Guilds. 

Sec. 5. Congress may authorize the treasury of the 
United States to issue to any Guild currency to the 
volume of not to exceed one-fifth of the net value of 
the assets of the respective Guild, charging for the use 
of the currency not to exceed one per centum per 
annum, and prescribing the manner in which such cur- 
rency shall be used. 

Sec. 6. Congress shall establish a system of pen- 
sions for aged or dependent citizens. 

Sec. 6. Congress shall establish and maintain em- 
ployment bureaus for citizens, and shall have power 
to regulate immigration of aliens to that end. 

Sec. 8. Anything in the constitution which inter- 
feres with the operation of this article XVI. is is here- 
by declared to be inoperative in those respects. 

Sec. 9. The provisions of this Article shall be in 
force one year after its adoption. 



PLAN AND SCOPE OF THE GUILDS 

Each Guild will be an incorporated company, with 
original and exclusive jurisdiction in the line or lines 
allotted to it, subject to Congress. 

It will be composed of all those engaged in the busi- 
nesses subject to it. There will be no individual stock- 
holders ; properties owned by the Guild will belong to 
the Guild as a whole, and each member will be entitled 
to vote according to the regulations established by or 
for the Guild. 

It may acquire property by purchase, lease, or other- 
wise, with right of condemnation by power of eminent 
domain; and may directly or indirectly, by license, 
permit, royalty, or otherwise, as it deems best, operate 
or control any business, or any part of any business, 
subject to it. 

It will have national and district branches, headquar- 
ters, officers, and bureaus, or boards, governed by such 
laws as it ordains. 

20 



It will collect statistics, fix prices, borrow or loan 
money, issue bonds, and do anything or everything 
that it may deem best for its interests — always, how- 
ever, subject to Congress. 

It will be a monopoly — that is one of the reasons for 
its creation — but will not be necessarily bound to gov- 
ern in a rigid, arbitrary way, but may permit a large 
measure of latitude to its components, as the nature of 
a business will justify, and will not be held down by 
precedent or cut-and-dried programme. 

The various powers or duties of a Guild are not spe- 
cifically mentioned in the amendment, as it is not nec- 
essary, the extraordinary powers given to it and to 
Congress permitting of their definition after the adop- 
tion of the amendment. 

When a Guild has been chartered by Congress it 
proceeds to organize, under the direction of auditors 
appointed by the President of the United States. Take, 
for example, the Transportation Guild : Every adult 
worker will be eligible to representation. It may 
license a railroad company to continue operation under 
private management, as theretofore, subject to regula- 
tions ; or it may condemn and purchase it by a bond 
issue, principal due in, say, twenty to thirty years, at 
not less than, say, 3^ per cent interest, except where 
less is agreed upon ; or it may build railroads and issue 
bonds thereon. Where a railroad is purchased, the 
capitalists will get the bonds, but when new railroads 
are built or old bonds reissued they should be sold to 
owners of small amounts of capital in preference to 
owners of large amounts, so as to lead to a more ge^ 
eral distribution of wealth. These bonds will be as 
good as Government bonds, as the Government will 
finance them — protect their issue, the property on 
which they are based, the interest paid on them, and 
the sinking fund from which the principal is to come. 

Other features of the Guilds in respect to these and 
other questions are referred to hereafter under various 
headings. 



2L 



THE GUILDS DESCRIBED. 

1— Agricultural Guild, 

This will include the various kinds of employing and 
employed farmers, stockmen, etc., and packers and 
canners of their products. This Guild may be per- 
mitted discretionary powers in hours of labor, but 
should respect the minimum wage rate. 

It has the first right of purchase of the products of 
its members (the great staples should be controlled 
directly), but may permit modification of this right so 
as to give "truck" farmers, chicken raisers, dairies, etc., 
necessary freedom in reaching local consumers. All 
farming and grazing lands of the Federal Government 
should be transferred to the Guild. The sums of 
money received from sales or leases of these lands will 
be considerable and may be applied to the operating 
expenses. 

Comparatively small amounts of money will be 
needed by this Guild. Its bonds or the asset currency 
issued to it will be available for the purchase of eleva- 
tors, packing houses, creameries, etc. The individual 
farmer will retain title to his land, as at present, and 
land may be bought and sold subject to such restric- 
tion as the Guild or Congress will impose. It is not 
the purpose of the Guild plan to affect private owner- 
ship of farming land. Therefore, the Guild will re- 
quire only enough money as will finance its purchase 
of warehouses, etc. 

To the farmer residing upon his land, it is to him an 
open book. He studies it, he plans to develop it and 
make it profitable, thereby adding to the quantity or 
quality of food necessary to himself and workers in 
other industries. Therefore, a direct personal interest 
is a vital factor in successful farming ; and as statistics 
show that the farmer's income from his land is not 
large — -averaging $500 a year — the public has no par- 
ticular interest in purchasing his land when his acre- 
age does not exceed a reasonable limit. 

When the Guild is instituted, the income of the 
farmer ought to approximate — which it does not at 
present — to the wages of the higher-priced mechanic. 
The Guild will buy his product, store, pack or can it, 
and market it ; loan him money on his crops at low 
rates of interest, and act for his interest generally. 

22 



The Guild, through its statistical bureau, will fix 
prices and pay the farmer according to what he sells to 
it, subtracting only enough to maintain the Guild's 
utilities. It will take fhe place of the present army of 
middlemen and speculators who, in conjunction with 
transportation companies, exact every penny possible 
from the farmer. 

After the needs of the nation have been met, the re- 
mainder of the products, being in the control of the 
Guild, will become a formidable lever in the markets 
of the world. 

The Guild will be a democratic institution, wherein 
every member has a voice, and will be composed not 
only of those who own and till land, but also of em- 
ployes of farmers ; and it will not permit concentration 
of land in few hands, but will insist upon such sub- 
division as will be beneficial to its members and to the 
nation. However, if the Guild should fail in this re- 
spect, which is most unlikely, Congress will have 
ample power to apply a remedy. 

The farmer will, in addition to the fair rates re- 
ceived for his products, also gain by the probably 
lower prices for goods produced by the Guilds. 

The stockman, the fruit grower and other specialists 
will share corresponding benefits in the buying, pack- 
ing, handling, transporting and selling of their prod- 
ucts. 

The Guild will be in harmonious communication 
with the Transportation Guild and will secure uniform 
and convenient service. 

Through its boards and experts, the Guild will be 
able to furnish to the farmers such information as will 
enable them to increase or reduce their acreage planted 
to various crops, thus giving stability to production 
and permitting uniform prices. 

2— Manufacturing Guild, 

This Guild will operate in manufacturing, as de- 
termined by Congress. It will have general powers 
and may carry on its business in the manner it deems 
best. 

Generally, it will be necessary that it shall directly 
operate only the chief lines — those that have, in pri- 
vate hands, because of their immensity, a tendency to 

23 



become monopolies — and may permit small manufac- 
tories to operate by license, or on royalty, under the 
necessary regulations. There are probably hundreds 
of small industries that may be licensed and left to 
themselves, limited in their number, as their tendency 
is not to become monopolies, and healthy competition 
will keep their prices down to reasonable figures. But 
all forms of manufacturing will be subject to the 
Guild, whether carried on directly or indirectly by it, 
or on license. Fees and royalties will go, of course, 
into the Guild treasury, as they will in the other 
Guilds, and will be considered as factors in determin- 
ing the prices of products. 

According to the Bureau of Statistics, in 1902 the 
value of the products of the manufactories was over 
thirteen billions of dollars, as against six and three- 
quarter billions for the products of the farms, includ- 
ing live stock, etc. No one seriously believes that this 
thirteen billions represents as much actual proportion- 
ate value as does the six and three-quarter billions 
from the farms. The products of the American farm- 
ers are sold in competition with the products of the 
farmers of the whole world, whereas the products of 
the manufactories are protected by patents, tariffs, 
control of sources of raw material and trust combina- 
tions. 

To illustrate this attention is called to the following 
table, taken from Census Bulletin No. 150, page 3, em- 
bracing all the manufacturing industries in the United 
States : 



34 





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25 



For the single year 1850 the net profit of the fac- 
tories was $158,000,000. If this rate of profit con- 
tinued for the ten years of the decade ending 1859, we 
find it to aggregate $1,558,000,000. 

In the year i860 the net profit was $345,000,000, or 
for the ten years following $3,450,000,000. 

Put in tabular form, the table would appear as fol- 
lows, assuming that each year showed the same in- 
crease in net profits. (In fact, there was a greater in- 
crease with each new year, just as each decade shows 
a greater profit than the previous census year) : 

For the ten years ending 1859 $ 1,580,000,000 

For the ten years ending 1869 , 3 450,000,000 

For the ten years ending 1879 6,890,000,000 

For the ten years ending 1889 8,720,000,000 

For the ten years ending 1899 12,970 000,000 

For the four years ending 1903 (estimated) 7,672,000,000 

$41,182,000,000 

The total of over $41,000,000,000 represents the 
net profit, after all expenses, including wages, super- 
intendency, cost of materials and miscellaneous ex- 
penses had been met. Of this amount about nine 
billions is represented in capital stock at the end of fifty 
years. 

Much of this nine billions is water. But counting it 
all as an actual investment, it is evident, according to 
the figures by the Government, that the manufacturers 
absorbed over $32,000,000,000 in addition to equipping 
the factories. 

Should we add to the latter years of each decade 
profits at the normal rate of increase as shown by suc- 
ceeding census years, $50,000,000,000 would probably 
more clearly represent the amount. 

In short, in 1850 the total capital stock in manufac- 
turing enterprises in this country was about $500,000,- 
000. This has grown to over $9,000,000,000 in 1900 
and at the same time netted the stockholders over 
$30,000,000,000. 

The extortion of the speculators who now generally 
control the vast industrial combinations are the great- 
est known, or possible, to history. In addition to this, 
the factories, the railroads, the mines, and other indus- 
tries, are used as a basis for speculation and manipu- 
lation to draw out and absorb the capital of the small 
investor, who is then, by various devices, divested of 

26 



his rights therein, and the ill-gotten proceeds go to 
swell the treasuries of foreign aristocracies or domestic 
enemies of popular government. 

The farming class — the largest in the country — 
is mulcted on every hand by these manipulators, who 
control railroads, packing houses, refineries, elevators 
and every other chief utility cr means which will aid 
in artificially depressing the value of products. 

The factory worker, too, suffers. Subject to compe- 
tition by immigrant and surplus domestic labor, and 
prevented by legal devices from effective combination 
to control the price of his labor, he is insecure in his 
work and in his property, subject to every industrial 
or financial tremor, natural or artificial, by the act 
of Providence or the schemes of the financiers, and 
finally, because of accidents, age or infirmities, is 
turned out, like an old horse, to fatten on the stony 
pastures of vagrancy. 

By the Manufacturing Guild permitting the carry- 
ing on of the smaller industries on a healthy, restrict- 
ing, competitive plan, by license or on royalty, and ac- 
quiring the larger industries by the use of bonds, the 
amount of actual capital needed will be comparatively 
small ; this fact will be found to apply in all the Guilds 
and is a most important feature, particularly when 
compared with some current Utopian schemes which 
propose to confiscate property by tax or by forcible 
means. 

3 — Transp orta tion Guild, 

This will be an exclusive corporation in railroads, 
etc. (If Congress so orders telegraph, telephones, etc., 
may be retained by the Federal Government.) The 
Guild, in its sphere, will have equal power and freedom 
of action as any other Guild, and the capital necessary 
to finance it is subject to the same general comment 
thst has been applied to other Guilds. 

Apart from the interest of the worker, the welfare 
of the general public will be better safe-guarded by 
national or Guild control of transportation. The 
Fathers of the Republic never dreamed that the nation 
would permit the arteries of its commerce to be dom- 
inated except bv the Government. The fact that they 
retained control of postofHces and post roads proves 
this. Even if the Guild system shall not be adopted, 

27 



the nation will be forced to subject railroads to public 
control. Something must be done in this direction. 

A great deal of the present railroad capitalization is 
"water." The Guild may squeeze out so much of this 
that a bond issue of reasonable size will acquire the 
roads. 

Dr. Spahr says ("Statistics of Railways, 1890," 
page 58) regarding railroad stock watering: 

"It should be observed, however, that the sum upon 
which the public is paying interest is not the total capi- 
talization of the roads, but rather the sum upon which 
5 per cent is realized by the roads. This sum in 1890 
was $6,627,000,000. * * * Two thousand and odd 
millions of railroad capital, representing no investment, 
is simply capitalised extortion." 

In other words, about one-third is "water." 

Dr. Spahr continues : 

"But not even the fruits of the extortion have gone 
to the original investors. The expenditures of railroads 
and the dividends they declare have been so largely in 
the hands of loosely controlled directors that railroad 
construction, railroad purchase and railroad specula- 
tion have all served as means to divert the property of 
the stockholders on the outside into the pockets of the 
managers on the inside. Nearly all the profits of this 
extortion have passed into the hands of a compara- 
tively few men intrusted with the management of the 
public highways." 

4— Building Guild. 

This, as its name implies, will be a corporation of 
general powers in building, etc. It will include masons, 
bricklayers, carpenters, plumbers, janitors, sewer 
builders, pavers, electricians, laborers, etc., engaged in 
building operations of various kinds. It may build, 
acquire and operate, directly or otherwise, gas and 
electric lighting works, water works, buildings, etc. ; 
bond, own, rent, lease, license, etc., the same as may 
any other Guild. 

The railroads being in control of a Guild, towns, 
cities and other improvements can be made permanent 
fixtures, and the Building Guild may draw plans ac- 
cordingly. Our future urban and suburban homes 
may be made places of beaut}', and without paying 
tribute to any speculative element New buildings will 

28 



be largely the property of the Guild, although the indi- 
vidual citizen will be at liberty to design and have built 
for himself, at his own expense, a home according to 
■ the sanitary and artistic order demanded by the Guild 
or the municipality. The home oi the individual will 
remain his property so long as the greater public nee'd 
shall not demand it, and then the Guild will pay him 
the equitable price established by the courts. 

It is not private ownership of the home, nor of the 
farm, nor of the shop, that prevents the economic inde- 
pendence of the masses ; but if they should prove so, 
or if greater happiness shall be secured to humanity by 
public acquirement of them, then the Guilds, or Con- 
gress, will have power to acquire them. 

Handsome and convenient residences and business 
buildings, with well-kept streets and other utilities, 
such as lights, water, telephones, etc., laid out and 
maintained in economy and harmony, will be assured 
by the Guild. The "slums" will be spoken of as an in- 
stitution of the "dark ages" preceding the institution 
of the Guilds. 

Whenever municipalities desire to acquire or retain 
possession and operation of public utilities, the Guild^ 
being the superior industrial body, will probably grant 
the privilege, if it shall be for" the public convenience. 
Buildings and works occupied by other Guilds may, of 
course, be owned by them. 

5— Mining Guild, 

This Guild will control the production of coals, 
metals, mineral oils and earths, smelters, refineries, 
etc., and will exercise all powers necessary to its busi- 
ness. All the mineral lands in the possession of the 
Federal Government should be transferred to the 
Guild. Mines and wells may be operated directly, or 
on royalty, or otherwise, but the Guild should insist on 
all products being handled by it. The Government 
may assert the right of option to purchase the more 
precious minerals, to protect its domestic or interna- 
tional coinage. 

The fact that any Guild may insist that industrial 
products subject to it shall be sold to it, has great bear- 
ing, as by it alone, if no other force existed, all mere 
speculative features of industrial production and dis- 
tribution can be eliminated. 

29 



One feature of Guild control is that it will leave the 
management to the persons interested in and having 
knowledge of a business. It will not assume that a 
body composed of an inordinate number of lawyers— 
as Congress usually has been — no matter how well 
versed they may be in abstract matters, or a clique of 
speculators more proficient in stock gambling than in 
industrial knowledge, will be more competent to 
handle the business of a mine, a factory or a railroad 
than the persons actually engaged therein will be. The 
Guild system will leave to the Guild the questions of 
how, where and when, this that or the other thing may 
be done. 

The supreme principle under 1 ying the Guilds is thai: 
the people are sovereign and that everything shall be 
done with an eye to the public interest. And as public 
interest can be subserved only by some form of public 
control, and as control of the minerals of a country is 
essential to control of other things, it follows that 
mining — particularly for coal, iron, coppper and petro- 
leum — should be controlled by a Guild for the better 
protection of other Guilds in their particular spheres, 
as well as for the general public, What shall be the 
particular manner or method of Guild management 
will be left to the wisdom of the miners, subject to gen- 
eral congressional control. 

In mining lands, the wealth being controlled by the 
Guilds, which in turn is controlled by Congress, all 
that is generally known as "unearned increment" will 
flow back to the people. 

6— Marine Guild, 

This will be similar to the other Guilds. It will con- 
trol fisheries and the canning and disposing of the 
products, and transportation of freight and passengers 
by water. 

7— Service Guild. 

This Guild will be composed of all those engaged in 
service on persons, including servants, waiters, hotel 
men, hackmen, laundries, etc., as determined by Con- 
gress. It may control or license either associations or 
individuals in any or all of the various classes of serv- 
ice, and have all powers and privileges pertaining to a 



Guild. While it may own and operate any of its busi- 
nesses directly, it will most probably only license them. 
Domestic servants will be subject to their employers, 
under Guild regulations, or permitted such form of 
autonomy as experience will justify, 

8— Professional Guild, 

This Guild will have genera] discretionary powers 
and may license subsidiary associations, as lawyers, 
doctors, teachers, musicians, actors, singers, etc., each 
with authority to control schools, colleges, universities, 
etc., issue diplomas and superintend its respective 
affairs, subject to congressional, state and municipal 
laws. While its members will, so far as is practicable, 
respect the national minimum wage rate, their remun- 
eration will correspond to their abilities and clientage. 

9— Traders' Guild, 

This will include all shopkeepers, bankers, insurance 
men, clerks, agents, middlemen, etc., and their em- 
ployes, when not engaged in another Guild. Where 
one or more Guilds desire to conduct establishments 
for the sale of their products to the public they should 
be permitted to do so without permit from the Traders' 
Guild. In other respects, however, the Guild will have 
full power and may license, operate, own or limit any 
or all lines of business subject to it. The other Guilds 
being permitted to enter the field wherever they think 
it necessary to protect their interests, monopolistic 
combination will be impossible in the Traders' Guild. 
Having the power to limit the number of establish- 
ments and also to acquire general ownership, the ten- 
dency will be toward greater centralization and corre- 
sponding economical administration, especially in cities, 
towns and larger villages. 

No doubt some of the large capitalists previously in- 
terested in railroads, manufacturing, mining, etc., will 
join the Traders' Guild and seek to operate large estab- 
lishments. This must, if permitted, operate to drive 
keepers of small shops out of business in the great cen- 
ters and they may become clerks, managers, etc., in the 
larger stores, which will endeavor to do the bulk of the 
trade at small margins of profit. The position of the 
ex-small shopkeeper will not necessarily be the worse 

3L 



for the change, as his Guild, through its control of 
properties and of hours and wages, will assure him 
returns approximate to those of the other Guilds. 
Many small stores will survive, however, as they do at 
present, despite the department stores. The proba- 
bility is that, through arrangement with the Building 
Guild, when city or town property is improved, quar- 
ters will be provided for small shops and for members 
of the professions. Although the individual citizen is 
not obliged to patronize any shop or person, yet the 
judicious limiting and placing of these latter will tend 
to throw patronage into the hands of those most con- 
venient to the purchaser. 

Other Guilds. 

Congress may promote other Guilds, either by divi- 
sion or rearrangement of the Guilds named, or in new 
industries, as necessity demands. (See section 3 of 
amendment.) 

Wages and Hours. 

Congress, by establishing the minimum wage and 
maximum hours and guaranteeing employment, will 
prevent debasement of labor, while permitting reason- 
able individual freedom of action and incentive to 
skillfulness and reliability. 

It is not proposed to arbitrarily measure the fitness 
of individuals nor the values of their services — the 
Guilds will settle that for their members, in their own 
way — and as there will always be differences in posi- 
tions and talents, and probably in remuneration, il is 
but reasonable that applicants for positions should be- 
gin at the foot, if necessary, and graduate upward, ac- 
cording to capacity or experience. If the individual 
wishes to advance, he should prepare himself by study, 
assiduity or reliability to fill the superior places. (See 
sections 4 and 7 of the amendment.) 

Money. 

The money question will lose much of its present im- 
portance, from the fact that the Guilds will protect the 
people from the manipulations of money changers and 
speculators. Congress, freed from the influence of 
these classes, will, if needed, permit of currencies based 

33 



on values of assets of the Guilds. Congress will have 
power to prescribe the legal-tender power of asset cur- 
rency, and in case international financiers or specula- 
tors shall seek to control or curtail circulation of 
metallic money Congress may demand gold or silver in 
payment of duties on imports, and will have optional 
right to purchase the precious metals produced by the 
Mining Guild. (See section 5.) 

Old Age Pensions, 

There are so many ways in which Congress may estab- 
lish funds for aged and dependent persons, and there is 
so much to be said in favor of such pensions and so 
little to be said against them, that it is unnecessary to 
offer any suggestions. (See section 8; also "Internal 
Revenue Taxes.") 

Subsidiary A sso cia tions. 

The different Guilds may permit subsidiary associa- 
tions in any trade, service or specialty, and limit their 
membership to the actual needs. For instance, barber 
shops (which may be governed by the Professional 
Guild for sanitary reasons) should be licensed, and 
new licenses refused when there is an abundance of 
shops. So with hackmen, restaurants, hotels, lodging 
houses, etc., in the Service Guild, and with banks, 
stores, etc., in the Traders' Guild. No incompetent or 
dishonest person should be licensed to conduct a busi- 
ness. The necessary degree of autonomy can be given 
to each branch to permit of freedom and elasticity to 
meet local conditions. The purchaser may patronize 
any shop or person he desires to, and the reasonable 
competition that will ensue will compel vigilant cater- 
ing. 

Public Employes. 

National, state and municipal employes will be sub- 
ject to those bodies, which shall respect the regulations 
regarding the minimum rates of wages and maximum 
hours of labor established by Congress and by the 
Guilds. Whenever members of a Guild are employed 
on public work, agreements should be made with the 
Guilds. 

Immigra Hon. 

At present, in the United States, industry being in 
private hands, with right to hire labor in the cheapest 

33 



market, the citizen is unable to rise higher in the social 
scale than world-conditions will permit. Under the 
Guilds the Government will be better able to> control 
immigration and the Guilds will, for various reasons, 
offer employment to citizens in preference to aliens. 
It does not necessarily follow, however, that intelligent 
and skillful foreigners will be barred, but rather that 
inhuman competition in the sale of labor power will 
be abolished and conditions established that will be 
a model for the world, and America become the indus- 
trial Eldorado of the elite of the brain and brawn of 
mankind. (See section 7.) 

Direct National Operation* 

If future conditions shall warrant it, Congress will 
have power to own and directly operate anything con- 
trolled by any Guild, such as telegraphs, telephones, 
railroads, mills, etc., but must not interfere with free- 
dom of speech, of the press, or of religion, except in a 
general way to protect the rights of citizens. (See 
section 3.) 

Parity of Exchanges, 

Above all the Guilds will stand Congress, represent- 
ing the nation. Congress will be the supreme law- 
maker and arbitrator between the Guilds. It will have 
power, directly or through boards of experts, to fix the 
maximum rates ; the Guild may fix the legal minimum 
rates. When Congress is assured that a Guild is re- 
ceiving a disproportionate share of the wealth of the 
nation, it may order a reduction, thus maintaining an 
equitable parity of exchange of the products or serv- 
ices of the respective Guilds. 

When a Guild shall minimize waste in production, 
maintain humane conditions of employment and se- 
cure for its members a just parity of exchange in what 
they buy and sell, it will have accomplished the main 
purpose of its creation. 

Un employe d. 

All persons living in a country subsist on its pro- 
ducts, and it is better to allow each to earn his own 
livelihood than to depend on charity, or on dishonest 
methods. Congress and the Guilds will endeavor to 
absorb the unemployed. 

34 



The aim of all forms of democratic government 
should be to ultimately compel each capable person to 
earn his bread by useful service, and not live on the 
exertions of others, no matter by what high-sounding 
name the process of exploitation may be called. 

The waste of labor power throgh non-employment 
is a disgrace to civilized governments. If in recent 
years in the United States an average of 1,000,000 
adults — and we believe it is much larger — lacked em- 
ployment at, say, $2 per day, the sum lost will amount 
to at least $600,000,000 per year, or in 20 years to 
$12,000,000,000 (not including interest), or 5 per cent 
annually on $1 2,000,000,000 for 20 years. 

Under the Guilds, production being steadier and 
less liable to fluctuation and speculation than at pres- 
ent, and Congress having power to limit hours of 
labor and immigration, the proportion of unemployed 
will be insignificant; the "unemployed problem" will 
be solved. 



HOW IT MAY BE DONE 

The benefits arising from the Guild system will 
operate from the moment the Guilds are instituted. 
But it will take time to arrange the fiscal features, and 
perhaps it is well that a suggestion should be made 
here as to how this may be done. Remember, it is 
only by way of suggestion, as it is possible that other 
and superior plans may be more acceptable when the 
time comes for decision. 

First Five Years— Transportation, manufacturing, 
mining, building and service utilities may be leased for 
all or part of, say, the first five years, at rentals decided 
upon by agreement or by tribunals. 

The charges against the incomes of the properties 
should be as follows : 

First — Rentals, which should include interest due on 
liabilities against the properties. 

Second^ — Wages, which should be about the same, 
in the aggregate, proportionally, as when properties 
were controlled by private parties. 

Third — Maintenance, improvement and extension. 

Fourth — Surplus, which should be placed in a sink- 
ing fund for emergencies or for future payment of the 
principal, or subject to Congress. 

35 



During this first five years estimates of the values 
and future status of the properties should be available 
and these estimates should guide the Guild in its pur- 
chasing of properties, issuing of licenses or permits, 
etc. The Guild will not be bound to do any particular 
thing at any particular time, except to act equitably 
and fulfill its obligations. It may defer until such time 
as it deems proper any or all of the specific acts it shall 
be empowered to do. When the Guild, or Congress, 
does not take steps to control any particular thing sub- 
ject to it, it will be presumed that the owner will be 
permitted to carry on his business as theretofore, ob- 
serving, however, congressional regulations regarding 
hours, wages, etc. 

During this first five years it is quite probable that 
the margin of unemployed adults will be enlarged — 
though it may be, in fact, lessened by the number of 
women and children who may return to the household 
and the schoolroom. Many persons now engaged in 
more or less illegitimate or unnecessary occupations will 
be thrown on the general labor market. To meet this 
Congress may institute public works, or reduction of 
hours, or the Building Guild, through its bonds or 
asset currency, may condemn and purchase large areas 
of "slum" districts and erect new buildings more in 
harmony with the civilizing Guild spirit. Colonies of 
farmers, too, may be established, if thought desirable. 
It will be the sacred duty of Congress to provide for 
the absorbtion of the unemployed into useful fields. 

During this five years the Guilds should aim to 
establish improved methods of production and organ- 
ization, and they should be watchful that the increment 
arising from Guild centralization and management 
shall inure to its members and to the public, and not 
to the persons from whom properties are purchased. 

The Agricultural* Guild should, however, organize 
immediately and proceed to exercise its powers. 

The Guilds should establish systems of apprentice- 
ship calculated to improve not only the quality of 
workmanship, but also the moral, physical and educa- 
tional tone of its minor subjects. 

After First Five Years — Having settled the ques- 
tions of control and finance, the charges against the 
Guild properties should be: 

36 



First — Interest and sinking fund. 

Second — Wages. 

Third — Maintenance. 

Fourth — Improvement and extension. 

Fifth — Surplus. 

The interest and sinking funds are made first 
charges by the amendment, as a sign of good faith on 
the part of the Guilds. The Guilds will pay for every- 
thing they shall acquire, either with cash or with 
bonds. The interest to be paid will be settled accord- 
ing to the merits of each case, but will not be less than 
3J per cent per annum, except where a less rate is 
agreed to. The savings of the people can be invested 
in these bonds and earn such interest as the new con- 
ditions will justify. There were in 1903 ten billions 
on deposit in the banks of the United States ; much 
of this will be available; also a great deal of capital 
that is now used in businesses that will be displaced 
by the Guilds. No doubt quite a large surplus will 
be amassed by the Guilds during the preliminary 
five years ; this will be available and be used to re- 
duce the principal. The centralization of business, 
prevention of ruinous competition and control of prices 
should enable corresponding increases of wages, or re- 
duction of hours, or creation of a surplus. Returns 
from licenses, royalties, etc., will go into the Guild 
treasury. 

The principal of the bonds may be paid in various 
ways. It may be considered best to leave the matter 
to be settled when it arises. By way of further sug- 
gestion, however, it may be said that the principal can 
be paid : 

First — Out of a sinking fund which, with the inter- 
est, will realize the amount in twenty years ; or 

Second — By payment of a stated portion of the prin- 
cipal and interest yearly, thus wiping out the entire 
debt in twenty years — or, counting the preliminary five 
years, a total of twenty-five years. 

At the end of that time the properties, with all im- 
provements and increments, will belong apparently to 
the Guilds, but practically to the whole people, for 
Congress, by maintaining a just parity of exchange 
in the products or services of the Guilds, or by taxa- 
tion, will enable the public to absorb indirectly the 
benefits arising from Guild control. 

37 



It is impossible to determine exactly the value of 
the properties that will be purchased by the Guilds, 
as only expert examination at the period of their 
acquisition will show that; but if we assume that the 
wealth owned by the 125,000 families referred to 
later on may be taken as representing the great rail- 
road and trust interests (which in 1890 was esti- 
mated at thirty-three billions, and is now probably 
nearly fifty billions), there is no question that the 
Guilds can pay for the properties in twenty-five 
years, or two billions per year, not including inter- 
est. This is the extreme amount required and it 
may be much less after the properties have been rid 
of the "wiater" in their present valuation. The inter- 
est need not be considered, as we pay that already. 

The receipts of the United States Government in 
1900 were over one billion dollars — less than sixteen 
dollars per capita. Under the fairly prosperous times 
then existing, this tax was hardly felt by the nation. 
So, under the vastly increased prosperity of the Guilds 
the sum necessary for liquidation of the sums due on 
the properties will be lightly felt by the nation. The 
trusts now rob us of more than that each year, and as 
property passes into the hands of relatively fewer pri- 
vate hands we will be forced to yield more, and still 
more, until all that will be left to the American pro- 
ducer will be the simple fere of the landless, money- 
less peasant. Eventual freedom, under the Guilds, is 
cheap even at thrice two billions a year for twenty-five 
years. * 

* THE OWNERS OF AMERICA. 
By the Rev. Thomas B. Gregory. 

According to a table constructed by Dr. C. B. Spahr, and based 
upon the census of 1890, America, that is to say the United States 
of America, the "Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave," 
with its "government of the people, by the people and for the 
people," is in a fair way of passing out of the hands of the many 
into the custody and keeping of the few. 

In 1890, then, the wealthy families, those possessing $50,000 and 
over, numbered 125,000, their wealth per family being $264,000 ; 
their aggregate wealth being $33,000,000,000 (thirty-three bil- 
lions). 

The well-to-do families, those having from $5,000 to $50,000, 
numbered 1,375.000, their average wealth being $16,000 ; their 
aggregate wealth $23,000,000,000 (twenty-three billions). 

The middle-class families, possessing from $500 to $5,000, num- 
bered 5,500,000, their average wealth being $1,500, their aggregate 
wealth $8,200,000,000 (eight billions, two hundred millions). 

The poorer families, those possessing less than $500, numbered 
5,500,000, having on an average $150 to the family, their aggre- 
gate wealth being $800,000,000 (eight hundred millions). 

Thus it appears that one-half the families in the United States 

38 



PRACTICABILITY 

In the previous pages we have presented a practical 
plan for the acquisition of Guild properties. There 
still remain, however, the question of practicability on 
other points. 

In the political field, the Guild plan can be made to 
appeal to a larger proportion of the voters than any 
other current or probable plan of general reform. 
Herein lies its practicability as a basis for a movement 
wherein the farmer, the mechanic, the laborer, the pro- 
fessional man and the small merchant may unite 
against the parasitic influences that now control them. 

In the industrial field, it cannot be argued against it 
that the Guilds will be too large, too unwieldly. We 
point to the East India Company and similar com- 
panies, which were incomparably larger and more 
powerful than any Guild, will be, and the Guilds, being 
conducted on democratic and not on despotic lines, will 
be incomparably superior in every respect. Vast rail- 
road and other systems are now operated from a cen- 
ter, through divisions and subdivisions, down to the 
smallest detail, and their tendency seems to be to grow 
larger and more centralized day by day. 

In the event of any Guild becoming too large or un- 
wieldly, Congress will have power to remedy any 
weakness that may develop. (See section 3.) 

The Guilds will pay for everything they acquire, and 
in case of differences of opinion regarding properties, 
will be amenable to courts representing the whole 
people. 

The Guilds will not be operated according to any 
mere doctrinaire programme, but will recognize any 



are without ownership in the country. Seven-eights of the families 
hold but one-eighth of the country's wealth ; while one per cent 
of the families hold more than do the remaining ninety-nine per 
cent. 

It is unnecessary to remark that a table based upon the census 
of 1900 would strongly emphasize the conclusion reached from 
that of 1890 ; for it may be safely said that not since the begin- 
ning of human society has there been a decade in which so many 
great private fortunes were built up as in the ten years between 
1890 and 1900. 

Now, to the person that has read history with a careful eye 
there is nothing in this state of affairs to rejoice over, but much, 
on the other hand, to seriously reflect upon. 

If history tells us anything it tells us, and tells us very plainly, 
too, that whenever in any nation there has come to pass a pro- 
nounced concentration of wealth in the hands of the few, with a 
corresponding impoverishment of the rank and file of the people, 
the result has been a disastrous one. 

39 



feature or scheme, competitive or collective, or both, 
which will appear best at a given time, under given cir 
cumstances. On one thing, however, they will be 
steadfast, and that is that anything that will be done 
shall be done because it subserves public interest. 

The Guilds will not ignore the law of supply and de- 
mand, but by measuring the supply by the demand 
will be able to fix the price. The trusts do this now, 
in a less perfect way, because they have less perfect 
control than the Guilds will have. 

We find that, because of certain rights or privileges 
acquired under the present laws, it is impossible to in- 
stitute the Guilds except by constitutional amendment. 
We are law-abiding, we respect the law, we respect the 
rights acquired under forms of law ; we shall alter the 
law in a constitutional way and recompense those who 
have rights under the law. We do this because it is 
just, progressive and the most expedient and practical 
at this time. 

Thus, from the standpoints of political expediency, 
industrial management, harmony with economic law, 
with equity and with progress, the American Guilds 
willl be practicable. 



Human nature is wonderfully alike the world over and the 
ages through ; the animus of concentrated wealth is always the 
same, too, and thus history finds no sort of trouble in repeating 
itself. 

The story, and the whole story, of the rise and fall of the great 
nations of antiquity is the story of the concentration and explosion 
of wealth. 

Each of those old nations began on the level of democratic fair- 
ness and equality. Egypt was owned by the Egyptians, Rome by 
the Romans, Greece by the Greeks. 

There was a justice of ownership and a fair-play of distribution 
that interested each in all and all in the common fatherland. 

But in an evil day the simple, honorable, human arrangement 
was disturbed ; the wealth of the country — of Egypt, Rome, Greece 
— began to be concentrated in the hands of the few; the few be- 
came the governing aristocracy — the many became slaves ; and 
then the deluge ! 

It is the old, old story, told us by impartial history over and over 
again. It is the only story history has to tell us. It is impossi- 
ble that' we shall hear any other from her. 

Except it be this one — that the Old Eternal laws treat all peo- 
ples alike, having no favorites, so that the story of one nation — 
the conditions being the same — is the story of all tbe nations. 

We know what happened to the people of the olden time, and 
why it happened ; and we may be sure that if this people follows 
in their footsteps it will have the same destiny. 

There is morality in the most vital stamp, as well as the deep- 
est political science, in the poet's famous couplet : 

111 fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, 
Where wealth accumulates and men decay. 

And in proportion as the wealth "accumulates" instead of scat- 
tering, getting into the hands of the few, making them proud, 
lordly, tyrannical, while the masses become more and more slaves. 
denuded of their self-respect, not owning any of the earth, but 

40 



QUESTIONS ANSWERED. 

Why An Amendment? 

Regarding the necessity of an amendment, we an- 
swer that any law made bv Congress to form Guilds, 
without such constitutional provision, will be declared 
unconstitutional by the Federal Supreme Court. It 
will be said by them that "it is not in accordance with 
the American theory of government; that it is 'class 
legislation/ as it gives sole power to one class to do 
certain things, to the exclusion of other classes." When 
the people amend the constitution so as to permit the 
Guild plan to become operative, then it will be consti- 
tutional and the Supreme Court will have to decide ac- 
cordingly. 

Equal Wage, 

Each Guild will determine the rates of wages to be 
paid to workers in its various classes of labor. It is 
unreasonable to expect that locomotive engineers, or 
switchmen, who are subject to loss of life or limb, will 
receive no more than a clerk or a porter in offices or 
depots. If extra reward is not given for extra-hazar- 
dous work there will be a lack of such workers ; the 
extra wage is the compensation for risk. 

When a worker receives a larger wage because of 
greater risk, or of greater ability, or responsibility, 
in production or management, and consumes it, or uses 
a part of it to permit of his retirement from active labor 
at an earlier age, there is a balance between his pro- 
duction and his consumption ; he wrongs no man. 

At present, the evil lies in the fact that, because of 
the uncertainty of opportunity to labor to produce 
present and future needs, industrial society is in a con- 
dition of alternate chills and fever, and money-mad or 
vicious persons are permitted to dominate both labor 
and natural resources by the lever known as "capital." 
Thus has it come to this that instead of the orderly 

simply dwelling upon it by the grace of their masters — I say in 
proportion as this comes to pass the evil deplored In the poet's 
lines becomes a fact. 

Something, therefore, must be done, and done soon, to stop the 
movement which is now so active in our land — the movement 
toward the concentration of wealth of this country in the hands 
of the few. 

It must be that there is some way out of the difficulty that so 
menaces our future, and we will hope that before it is too late 
that way will be discovered. 

41 



evolution of tribal systems of industrial equality we 
have the results of systems of conquest, of slavery, of 
greed, of tyranny, with all their pernicious effects on 
art, religion, morals and philosophy. 

Different individuals have different capacities of 
consumption, but this is of no concern so long as each 
produces what he consumes. When any person is ex- 
pected to consume. less than he produces, it is slavery; 
when any person consumes more than he is willing to 
produce, he is a rogue. We deduce from this, there- 
fore, an equal wage is, abstractly speaking, unjust; the 
just wage is the natural wage, that each man is en- 
titled to what he produces — no more, no less. It is 
the duty of society to establish industrial conditions 
that will insure this, as far as is practicable. The 
Guilds will work to that end. 

We are aware that in many lines of industry the 
"equal wage" is, generally, the most practicable sys- 
tem ; to these this criticism will not apply. Our aim is 
to show that whenever a Guild decides it best, for the 
general interest, to have varying scales of remunera- 
tion, it is not only not unjust, but it is following the 
most practicable course. 

Who Will no the Dirty Work? 

An industrial Guild is not compelled to give employ- 
ment to any particular person and may discharge or 
transfer any employe who shows incompetency or dis- 
obeys its rules. 

Untrustworthy persons will be compelled to seek em- 
ployment in those classes of Guild or public work that, 
because of their objectionable nature, are avoided by 
the more competent and the aspiring. The question, 
"Who will do the dirty work?" is answered by saying, 
"Those who show by their incompetency or unrelabil- 
ity that they are unfit to be trusted with the cleaner 
work." If an individual sinks to his natural level 
through no fault of society, society is guiltless. Still 
society, through its helpful institutions, aims to lift 
him up. The Guild is a. democratic, humane institu- 
tion that will endeavor to find a useful place for those 
who show a disposition to be fair. 

Standards of Value. 

At present, when "perishable" crops are consigned 
in extraordinarily large quantities to any point, mid- 
42 



dlemen and canners benefit by the glut. Frequently 
small fruits, vegetables, etc., are unsalable and are 
either given away or destroyed. The Farming Guild, 
not being actuated by motive of profit, but acting only 
as an agent of its members, will, first, issue information 
that will help to prevent over-production and gluts; 
second, if a glut occurs it will be in a position to utilize 
the surplus in its canneries or by transportation to 
other points ; and, third, the average national or dis- 
trict rate of all transactions, after deducting the cost of 
handling, will be paid to the farmer on the grade of 
goods he sells to it. The price may be paid either at 
the end of the season, or part on delivery and the re- 
mainder at a further date. This price may be called 
the national price if the price is based on all of a par- 
ticular product in the nation ; or it may be called the 
district price, if the Guild shall, for various reasons, 
equitable or economical, set up standards for districts. 

In grain and other staples the same principle will 
apply. The Guild stores, mills and, if necessary, sells 
them. Congress, or its experts, determines the point 
where the jurisdiction of the Agricultural Guild ends 
and the Manufacturing or other Guilds begin. 

The "world price" is determined by various causes. 
American grain sold in a foreign country will bring 
a price corresponding to the competition of the world. 
The chief wheat-exporting countries are Russia and 
the United States. Cotton is an American staple. The 
American Guild, controlling such a vast amount of 
staples necessary for the world's supply, may by the 
use of its leverage on the market from year to year 
demand and receive profitable average prices.* 

In manufactured goods — which differ from agricul- 

* FARMERS TO COOPERATE. 

From the Chicago American, December 21, 1903. 

"Farmers, representing ten states, gathered at the Grand Pa- 
cific Hotel yesterday to discuss a plan of merging their local 
bodies into one national organization with a view of securing 
better prices for farm products. 

"W. F. Hendricks, president of a local organization in Okla- 
homa and Southern Kansas, said that his society had 20,000 
members and was anxious to affiliate with any national body that 
would benefit the agriculturist. 

"Robert LIndbloom explained the plan of the Farmers' National 
Co-operative Exchange Company, capitalized for $50,000,000. 'Our 
company is the only corporation organized for the conduct of 
vhe actual business of storing, buying, selling and shipping farm 
products through the agencies of the farmers, thereby saving for 
the farmers the untold millions which are paid for storage and 
commissions between the farmer and the consumer. 

" 'Fifty million dollars represent but a small fraction that \s 

43 



tural products in the respect that the former can be in- 
creased or diminished according to demand, and do 
not depend on temperature, rainfall, etc. — prices may 
be easily regulated by the Guild. 

In precious metals the variation in prices from year 
to year is so small that world prices will be operative 
and the metals can be used then, as they are now, as 
monetary standards. In the common metals, the pro- 
duction of which may be generally made to correspond 
to the demand, prices can be regulated with precision. 

In the Service and Building Guilds values will be de- 
termined by the values of agricultural, manufacturing 
and mineral products, measured by the standard of 
living of the masses. 

In the Professional Guild individual ability is of the 
value it will bring, helped by Guild restrictions and 
limited by the standard of living. Men of remarka- 
ble ability in law, medicine, art, literature, etc., may 
receive compensation corresponding to their talents. 

In the Traders' Guild the same motive will operate as 
does at present. The object of a trader is to secure such 
reward for the use of his talent and capital as the com- 
petition of others' talent and capital will permit. Being 
able, in the Guild, to restrict competition to a normally 
healthy condition, and being liable, in case of abuse 
of that privilege, to competition of other Guilds and to 
general supervision of Congress, trade will become 
less speculative and will tend more and more to be- 
come automatic and steady in its operations. "Corner- 
ing" the market will be impossible in the United States. 

raked off between the farm and the kitchen, and which could be 
saved under the plan I propose. 

" 'My plan is based upon the fundamental proposition to let 
every farmer and every farmers' organization do whatever they 
think best for their own pocketbooks. Equitable prices can only 
be obtained by being independent of the various associations of 
dealers, warehousemen and live stock combines. 

" 'The key to the situation is do not sell any faster than the 
consumer needs it. Do not interfere with the natural law of 
supply and demand by rushing supplies on a market faster than 
it can absorb it. We are not attempting to organize a farmers' 
trust. What we intend to do is to establish natural prices for 
farm products by a rational distribution of products over the 
entire crop year, just as the consumer takes a whole year to 
consume his share of the supplies. We also mean to see that 
prices are not unduly depressed by combines, false information, 
the manipulation of news and the dissemination of lies.' " 

From the Record-Herald, December 21, 1903 

"Robert Lindblom. of Chicago, president of the Farmers' Na- 
tional Co-operative Exchange, made an eloquent plea for disin- 
terested co-operation among the producers. He said : 

" 'No homogeneous wheat now arrives at the seaboard. It has 

44 



Internal Revenue Taxes. 

Congress will have power to levy taxes on liquors, 
tobaccos and other products. This power is discre- 
tionary on Congress, and it will prove an effective in- 
strument in its hands when the Guilds are instituted. 
For instance : 

i — At present many industries are operated only 
because of the low wages paid ; under the Guilds the 
minimum wages must be paid, but the products may 
be untaxed ; whereas, on the other hand, the more 
profitable industries and "luxuries" should be taxed in 
proportion. 

2 — As the amount of principal and interest to be 
paid on the Guild properties decreases, the Guild pro- 
ducts should be taxed in amounts equal to the de- 
creased amounts of interest; this tax may be turned 
over to the national pension fund. 

3 — If taxes are not assessed as above, and products 
are sold at the decreased price made possible by the 
Guilds, the bondholders, whose incomes are measured 
by dollars and not by products, will receive a larger 
share of the wealth than they are entitled to, and this 
should be prevented. Interest saved by Guild owner- 
ship should be absorbed by tax into the national pen- 
sion fund. 

Assuming that 50 billions will represent the wealth 
of the Guilds, this amount, at 5 per cent tax, will 
•produce 2\ billions yearly, or $30 a month for nearly 
seven million pensioners, or one-third of the present 
male population_of voting age in the United States. 
This amount now goes to the capitalists ; under the 
Guilds, when the properties are paid for, it will go 
to the people. And prices will be no higher, but may 



all been mixed and doctored by the dealers and the shipping com- 
bines. Eut with our alliance effectively organized, we can see to 
it that there is adequate supervision of wheat grinding from the 
time it leaves the fields until it reaches the tables of the con- 
sumers. 

" 'Our plan must not conflict with civil and national laws. If 
we attempt to raise the price of wheat to an arbitrary standard 
we will be in danger of indictment for conspiracy. We simply 
propose to regulate the distribution of supplies so that the natural 
supply and demand may Dot be violated by the sudden forcing 
of a whole year's crop on the demand market of half a year.' 

"Hi H. Carr, of Chicago, said : 'I contend that of equal im- 
portance with its production is the disposal of a crop. The 
farmers are taxed hundreds of millions of dollars annually by the 
local grain buyers. The evil is of national importance and the 
remedy lies in the hands of the progressive farmers.' " 

45 



be lower, consequent on other factors — centralization 
in operation, avoidance ot present causes of waste, 
etc. 

After the principal sums clue to the bondholders have 
been paid, prices may be decreased to the extent of 
two billions per annum; or, if prices are maintained, 
the two billions may be added to the pension fund — 
a total of 4J billions a year. All classes of aged citi- 
zens will benefit. The more able-bodied pensioners 
will constitute a reserve force that can be utilized 
whenever there is an extraordinary demand for work- 
ers, as in times of destruction of property by the ele- 
ments, or in saving of crops, etc. 

Tariffs on Imports, 

The Guilds will control the chief industries and 
the means of transportation; they will naturally en- 
deavor to conduct domestic commerce for the benefit 
of the American people and questions of free trade 
and protection, so-called, will become comparatively 
irrelevant. The power on Congress to impose tariffs 
is not interfered with, however. 

Patents. 

The patent laws will remain unchanged. A patent 
right is property and may be bought or sold. When- 
ever a Guild desires possession of a patent right, it 
will purchase it, privately or by condemnation; if it 
considers its purchase unnecessary it will permit the 
patentee to manufacture it by license. The probabil- 
ity is that the Guilds will provide inventors with leisure 
and capital to develop valuable ideas and the real Age 
of Machinery will begin, the workers reaping whatever 
benefits will follow. 

Lessened Crime, 

Excepting those who have legitimate means to live 
without work of some kind, each person will seek 
membership in a Guild, and may work at anything only 
by permission of a Guild. This will give each person 
an identity which will be hard to conceal when offenses 
against the law are charged. This, as well as the fact 
that crimes caused by poverty will no longer be justi- 
fiable and will be avoided, should tend to lessen crime. 

46 



Notes on Various Subjects. 

Law — The Guilds will render unnecessary many 
forms of litigation and the number of lawyers may be 
lessened, but Federal, state and municipal laws will still 
be in force, and criminal, probate and other courts 
exist and lawyers and judges will be needed. Law will 
be purged of many obnoxious features. The ablest will 
survive and the term "lawyer" will designate a class of 
learned men who will be held in greater esteem by the 
public. 

Medicine — Members of the medical profession 
should welcome any plan that will assure fair living 
conditions to the masses and enable them to command 
the services of trained, competent men to attend to 
their bodily ills. The Guild plan will affect the medical 
profession profoundly — to be a licensed physician will 
be both honorable and profitable. 

Art, Drama, Amusements — There is nothing in 
the Guild plan that will interefere with the manage- 
ment or free play of talent in music, teaching, litera- 
ture, etc., but rather as a higher standard of general 
culture will have become possible, most of these will 
expand indefinitely beyond their present proportions, 
initiative in all forms of amusement and sport is left 
to private persons, for either pleasure or profit, as at 
present, subject, of course, to Guild regulations and to 
local laws. If the national sporting associations now 
tend to bar dishonesty in sports, the Guild associations 
will act likewise, only more so. 

Freedom of Speech — Freedom of religion, of speech 
and of the press being guaranteed, each person may 
think as he pleases and act correspondingly, with due 
regard to the rights of others. Religious and educa- 
tional associations may retain their churches, halls and 
beneficiary institutions. Religion, relieved of many 
temporal features which now obscure it, will shine 
forth in its native glory. 

Authors and Lecturers — Writers and publishers 
of books will have at least as large a field as at pres- 
ent. They will have liberty to publish and copyright 
their opinions, amenable only to general law. The 
same applies to journalism. Any one may publish a 
magazine or paper, subject to Guild regulations re- 

47 



gar ding hours and wages of labor. Lecturers and 
preachers may follow their vocations, either for pleas- 
\ire or profit. 

Exclusive Corporations — It will be said that gov- 
ernment should not authorize exclusive corporations — 
that it should not close the door of opportunity to any 
one who has the ambition and strength to succeed. But 
government is itself an exclusive corporation, with 
original powers, and may delegate its powers to any 
person or corporation — for the public good, which is 
higher than the right of an individual. Governments 
operate postoffices, railroads, canals, banks, armies, 
mints and many other things to the exclusion of indi- 
viduals ; authorize tariffs as barriers for the purpose 
of stifling competition — for the public good. The 
Guilds will be operated fcr the public good. 

Rights of States — Of course, any law interfering 
with the operation of the Federal Constitution, as 
amended, will become defunct, but otherwise there will 
be no interference with the laws of states o* municipal- 
ities. 

The amendment is intended to cover the manufac- 
ture, transportation and exchange of products, and the 
industrial relations of citizens, and not questions of 
morals or personal conduct, as the liquor question, 
gambling, etc., or questions of suffrage or local taxa- 
tion. 

Strikes — Any person has a right to refuse work un- 
der abhorent conditions and seek employment else- 
where, but should be entitled to demand and be willing 
to submit to- impartial tribunals ; therefore, the pre- 
sumption is reasonable that strikes will be unnecessary 
under the humane rule of the Guilds. 

Panics — Commercial panics usually occur where 
there is insecurity of property and credits ; under the 
Guilds these will be reduced to a minimum. 

Over-Production — Each person being assured a 
position as a steady producer, with corresponding 
steady power of consumption, Guild participants will 
look on "over-production" as pertaining only to a bar- 
barous age. All production, whether directly or indi- 
rectly, by license or otherwise, should be subject to 
curtailment by the Guilds' statistical experts. This 
will prevent "over-production." 

48 



Ex- Post Facto Laws — The present constitution 
says: "No bill of attainder or ex-post facto law shall 
be passed." 

It will be argued from this that government has no 
right to pass any law that will invalidate or condemn a 
charter passed before the passage of the Guild law. 
But government issues titles in perpetuity to home- 
steads, yet it can and does cause them to be condemned 
for public or semi-public uses, as in the case of rail- 
roads, etc., when compensation is given. It can do like- 
wise with charters or patents, and at all events when 
the Guild amendment is adopted it will do it by con- 
stitutional right, no matter in what way it may have 
been limited in that respect previously. Slavery had 
been declared to be legal, but it is no longer so; the 
people have amended the constitution. 

Savings Banks — The chief industries being con- 
trolled by Guilds, Guild bonds will be a safe invest- 
ment for the savings of the people. Guilds may oper- 
ate banks for members ; Government also may main- 
tain saving depositories ; permitting such interest as 
the new conditions will warrant. Private banks, as 
they are known today, will become of relatively less 
importance, and will be simply conveniences for tran- 
sient trading transactions. The power of the money 
lords in the United States will be gone forever. 

Loose Capital — It will be asked, What will be done 
with loose capital — that is, the money capital paid to 
owners of railroads, factories, mines, etc., by the 
Guilds? They can reinvest it in any business or land 
open to them, subject to Guild regulations; or in 
government, state or municipal bonds ; or in Guild 
bonds ; or they can take their money to other coun- 
tries and invest it there ; or they can live in idleness 
so long as their health and money will permit. Noth- 
ing that such capital may do will interfere appreciably 
with the welfare of the nation. All wealth is produced 
by labor, which includes talent; money is an instru- 
ment to facilitate exchange of property ; there are dif- 
ferent kinds of money; bullion money, asset money, 
fiat money; the nation and the Guilds, possessing as- 
sets, can, generally, secure any of these kinds of money 
as needed, but they are not compelled to use only 
bullion money, but may issue their own money, based 
on their own assets ; "fiat" money will be unnecessary. 

49 



In case capitalists should seek to divert capital to 
buy large tracts of land, hoping to reap profits under 
Guild control, they will be able to do so only until such 
time as the Agricultural Guild or Congress shall pro- 
hibit it. The rule will apply in every other industry; 
the constitutional amendment cuts the ground from 
under all forms of plutocracy. 

Adulteration — Competency — The Guilds will in- 
sist on periods of apprenticeship and study necessary to 
produce competent artisans, doctors, etc., and the in- 
dividual will be careful that the quality of his work- 
manship or service shall not be questioned. Adulter- 
ated goods will be rare and competency will be gen- 
eral. 

Initiative — At present the chief incentive to pro- 
duction is profit, chiefly by possessors of speculative 
capital. Under the Guilds initiative will be largely 
under the direction of Guild experts, actuated by the 
demand. Labor will take the place intended for it by 
nature, and capital will be its instrument. But it does 
not follow from this that all private initiative will be 
suppressed. On the contrary, individuals wishing to de- 
velop any process, machine, shop, etc., may be given 
full power to do so, subject to Guild control. 

Trusts — The Guilds will be trusts, in the best sense, 
and we will be participants in them. That will for- 
ever settle the trust question. 

Surplus — The funds of the various Guilds will be 
under Congressional supervision and any surplus left 
after liabilities for wages, maintenance, extension, in- 
terest or sinking funds, etc., are provided for, should 
be subject to Congressional direction, either for old- 
age pensions, rewards, extra per capita compensa- 
tion, public works, or emergency fund. This is mere- 
ly a suggestion, however, and it is not imperative that 
the question shall be settled until the Guilds are es- 
tablished. 

Army and Navy — The army and navy is left en- 
tirely under control of the President and Congress. 
Armies should be maintained as long as they are neces- 
sary to sustain democratic institutions, and government 
should be given power to use them to the best ad- 
vantage. Industry being centralized and a correspond- 
ingly increased leisure being permissible to the work- 

50 



ers, militia and gymnastic organizations should be 
fostered by the government, not only for the defense, 
but for the physical well-being of citizens. 

What the Guilds Will Not Do. 

The Guilds, it will be found, do not propose to ap- 
propriate the home of the worker in town or city, nor 
the farm of the agriculturist, nor the property of any 
person without compensation; they do not propose to 
destroy the myriad varieties of small shops and con- 
veniences that spring up as in a night to minister to 
the necessities or pleasures of the shifting populations ; 
they do not propose to put art, nor music, nor the 
drama, nor literature, nor fashion, in a strait- jacket, 
but shall insist that free play be allowed them and that 
monopoly shall not exercise its strangling hold upon 
them; they do not propose that the institutions of re- 
ligion may not go side by side with the institutions of 
the state, each in its proper sphere, and each equally 
tolerant of the rights of the other ; they do not propose 
that law and order, and the sacredness of the family, 
of human life and of legitimate property rights shall 
be cast aside or trifled with by every passing gale of 
riotous clamor ; nither do they propose to alter human 
nature, except in so far as it may be bettered by fair 
opportunity and equality before the law. 

Thus, both by what they do and by what they do 
not, should the Guilds be judged. 

Moral Effect 

The moral effect of the Guilds will be incal- 
culably great. Certainty of profitable employment 
under sanitary conditions; purity of food; oppor- 
tunity for reasonable leisure and pleasures ; se- 
curity in old age ; withdrawal of women and children 
from the factories and their return to> the fireside and 
the schoolroom ; freedom of political action ; lessened 
incentive for crime ; reawakened consciousness of the 
nobility of manhood, the holiness of womanhood, the 
sacredness of childhood ; the sanity, the wholesome- 
ness, the desirability of life from the cradle to the 
grave — ah, surely the flower of morality shall thrive 
and blossom in such a soil. 

If it shall not, what hope is there for humanity? To 
what purpose have we revered the Buddha, the Christ, 

51 



and other teachers of the centuries; erected temples 
of worship and courts of justice and prophesied the 
Brotherhood of Man? Is law fraudulent? Is religion 
hypocrisy? Are all our ideals vanities? 

No! The books, the philosophies, the movements, 
the institutions that were and are rallying points for 
enthusiasts, for martyrs, say these were not, are not, 
will not be so, and that humanity, rising step by step 
to higher ideals in the face of adverse conditions in 
the past, will, in the future, under the Guilds, rise to 
still higher planes, gradually losing those imperfections 
that impede it, to culminate in that most sane, most 
ethical, most moral conception — the Brotherhood of 
Man! 

"Courage yet, my brother or my sister ! 
What we believe in waits latent forever through all 

the continents, 
Invites no one, promises nothing, sits in calmness and 
light, is positive and composed, knows no dis- 
couragement, 
Waiting patiently, waiting its time. — Walt Whitman. 



POLITICAL ACTION. 

Of course, political action of some sort is necessary 
to bring about the adoption of the amendment author- 
izing the Guild. Two ways are open. 

First — An independent political party. 

Second — A non-partisan educational movement. 

The second has, at present, the most points in its 
favor, provided it is conducted along certain lines. The 
plan we would suggest is this : Form primary, district 
and state clubs composed of voters of all parties. 

Union men in the cities and farmers' organizations 
in the country should take the initiative in forming 
these clubs. Invite discussion of the Guild and allied 
subjects, and urge Guild supporters in each district to 
select candidates for delegates to their respective party 
conventions. 

Many voters are tied to present parties by sectional, 
race, tariff, monetary and other issues and it is almost 
impossible to appeal to them except in a non-partisan 
way. Many planks in the parties' platforms will not be 
avoided by their supporters so long as present condi- 

52 



tions prevail, and the aim of the Guild clubs should be 
to hold themselves free of such subjects, expect to 
show how, in a general way, the Guild affects them. 

Influence brought to bear on the primaries should 
continue up to district, state and national organizations, 
and may lead to one or more of the chief parties in- 
dorsing the Guilds ; after which the course is clear. 

Apart from their educational value on the Guild 
question, these primary clubs should have a purifying 
effect on general politics, as the opportunity given to 
the ordinary citizen to associate himself with his kind 
and determine elections for primary deelgates will result 
in suppressing the corrupt cliques that now control 
party organizations. When the workingmen and farm- 
ers work as hard at primary elections as they do at 
public elections politics will take on a new aspect. 



But while we at present favor the no-new-party plan, 
we see no good reason why progressive Republi- 
cans and Democrats, if their parties continue to re- 
main obdurate to sentiment in favor of the Guild 
amendment, may not, later on, unite in a new party, 
or with the Populist party, if the latter shall favor 
the Guilds. It would be a consummate stroke of good 
policy for the Populists to revise their platform to 
include the Guild plan, and we respectfully commend 
it to their careful consideration. The Socialists, too, 
on the one hand, and the Single Taxers, on the other, 
will, if they are wise, abandon their extreme, imprac- 
ticable programmes in favor of the more just and 
feasible j)lan outlined in this book. Each school of 
progressive economic thought may, with advantage, 
recede from its extreme position and combine to strike 
a blow for freedom. 



53 



OTHER SYSTEMS AND "REMEDIES" 

In presenting the Guild system for the favor of the 
American citizen, it will, no doubt, be subjected to crit- 
icism from advocates of not only -existing but projected 
systems and remedies. We anticipate the conflict. 
Herewith is presented a cursory view of the different 
schools of economic thought from which objections 
will come. Occasionally we interject a "good word" 
for the Guilds. 

' ' Free Competition. ' ' 

"Free competition" is the favorite theory of a large 
class of economists and also of a very large class of 
thoughtless persons. We say "theory," for it has sel- 
dom proved to be more than that. "Free" is a mis- 
nomer. If we consider man in barbaric ages, when 
government was only nominal, or in newer countries 
where resources of nature were abundant and open to 
all, it may be said that "free competition" existed, for 
a limited time. But in organized states, privileges of 
one kind or another have generally prevailed which in 
effect lessened or prevented free competition, and in 
most cases were granted or sought for the specific pur- 
pose of assuring to> one class dominion over other 
classes. 

Capital has usually been able to protect itself, but 
the working man and the farmer have been unable to 
protect themselves against competition and exploita- 
tion on all sides. And it was not when society was 
held together by mediaeval feudalism and when the al- 
leged beneficent competition is supposed to have been 
less active that the producing classes were exploited 
most, but rather when competition was lauded and 
held up as the only safe rule for the conduct of in- 
di lc trv. 

Froude, in his "History of England," after showing 
how the material well-being of the workman had be- 
come reduced because of the evasion of feudal duties 
by rich landlords, and was again restored by Parlia- 
ment? rv statutes "obliging the lords of the fees to do 
their duty," says : 

"They prove, I think, conclusively that the laboring 
classes owed their advantages not to the condition of 
the labor market, but to the care of the state, and that 

54 



when the state relaxed its supervision, or failed to en- 
force its regulations, the laborers, being left to the 
market chance, sank instantly in the unequal struggle 
with capital/' 

That was before steam and machinery were brought 
into competition with human labor, and when the need 
for food, clothing and shelter was no more urgent than 
it is to-day. 

Again, after comparing the industrial condition of 
the masses of the sixteenth century with those of the 
nineteenth century, Froude says : 

''The working man of modern times has bought the 
extension of his [political] liberty at the price of his 
material comfort. The higher classes [owners of 
estates who, while granting extension of political "lib- 
erty," had secured abandonment of the feudal duties of 
property] have gained in luxury what they lost in 
power." [The brackets are inserted by us to explain 
the text.] 

Lacking the knowledge, which could only come 
through bitter experience, that mediaeval feudalism 
could have been modernized by democratizing it, 
statesmen and political economists permitted it to go 
through the nightmare of "free competition," from 
which it is now awaking. 

"Free competition" is a modern idea and is both un- 
patriotic and immoral, and is tolerated only, as we have 
said, where statesmen are ignorant of — or callous to 
— its logical termination, which is plutocratic feudal- 
ism. 

Under the trust system the victors in the so-called 
"competitive" battle are fortifying the strategic points 
so as to fully dominate the economic fields without re- 
gard to national lines. Capital has no country, no 
patriotism, except where its interests are threatened ; 
then it is most vociferous and a well-known quotation 
can be paraphrased to read, "Patriotism is the last 
refuge of capital."* 

* Henry Demorest Lloyd, in his pamphlet on the Chicago traction question, 
says: 

"One of the contemporary events in the world of municipal 
ownership is the fierce onslaught now being made on the cities 
of England which are embarking so successfully on the policy 
of public ownership of public utilities. Features of this cam- 
paign have been the series of articles in the 'Thunderer' (London 
Times) and other newspapers, memorials to the Bank of England, 
open participation by private monopoly in the politics and elec- 
tions of cities like Birmingham, which have traction questions to 
settle. This campaign is in the hands of American interests. 

55 



"Free competition" is immoral because it carries 
false colors. In no previous period has money capital 
wielded such power as it does at present. Government, 
both republican and monarchical, "free" or autocratic, 
are mere puppets in the hands of the financiers. 

"Business" has become the plaything of the moneyed 
speculator~and gambler. The farmer and the working 
man are taught to believe that they are "free," but are 
forced to accept the smallest possible return for their 
products, that the speculative margin may be increased 
for the benefit of parasites. The "increment" of every 
improvement in the machinery of production is made 
"fixed capital" and society at large is forced to pay 
dividends to the possessor, forever. 

The following extract from a letter by Walter Well- 
man, a noted newspaper man, goes to show the power 
exercised by one financier : 

"Mr. Rockefeller is also interested in lake shipping, in 
iron and copper mines, in the United States Steel 
company, in banks, and all as a result of his original 
interest in oil. 

"He can take what he will, by levying tribute upon 
the whole nation, and it is impossible now to fix any 

substantially identical with those now seeking to perpetuate their 
monopoly in Chicago. These electrical, financial and speculative 
magnates have among them some who are already possessors 
of world-covering monopoly — and they aim to the acquisition 
of all that kind of luxury they can wheedle or bribe or bully out 
of the people. * * * 

"One of their most prominent generals in this war has been 
the Hon. Robert P. Porter, whose activities 1 in Europe in more 
or less public effort in the interest of the Standard Oil Com- 
pany are chronicled in the European press. Mr. Porter, though 
an American, intervened 'in a heated local campaign in Birming- 
ham, where he went to speak in support of an electric combine 
which was trying to force the municipality to hand over its 
franchise in street railways. The civic spirit of Birmingham as- 
serted itself on that occasion, and the company, notwithstanding 
its vigorous campaign to convert public opinion to its side, was 
ignominiously defeated.' 

"Very high up in English Government these influences have 
been able to go. The Lord Chief Justice of England * * * 
resents as interference the efforts of public authorities to see that 
the proposals of private enterprise do not conflict with the inter- 
ests and rights of the public. There is a power in these great 
interests which can draw the English Lord Chief Justice from 
the calm judicial atmosphere of the bench to take part in this 
way in this very controversial business between the towns of 
England and the trusts of America. It is the same power which 
means to mould all departments of American public administra- 
tion similarly to do its will and adopt its doctrines, on the 
bench and elsewhere. 

"Let us be perfectly plain. It is not merely the same power 
in kind that is doing the same work in England and America. 
It is the power of the same men. The companies in behalf of 
which the Lord Chief Justice makes these extraordinary remarks 

56 



limit to his power. His income is so enormously in 
excess of what he can use that every year adds many 
millions to his funds for investment, so that he is in 
a position to take advantage of any opportunity that 
may offer for profitable purchases of any description. 
When there is a flurry in Wall street and a rush to sell, 
he can buy shares by the thousands and tens of thou- 
sands. From dictating to one trust, he can proceed to 
dictate to others, by virtue of his increased holdings, 
and the only limit placed upon him is that imposed by 
death. If he could reach the years of a Bible patriarch 
the whole country might become merely a Rockefeller 
combine." 

Politics and journalism, and sometimes religion, are 
perverted to play upon the credulity of large portions 
of the community, that they may comply with the 
schemes of the financiers, who, like petulant children, 
refuse to play except on condition that they shall have 
their own way. 

This is equally true of "free trade" and "protective 
tariff" countries. 

Under "Protection." 

In the United States the great industries — transpor- 
tation, steel, coal, milling, etc. — are in the control of a 
few men who have their representatives in high places 

* * * are specifically companies including among their active 
members men who have been and are active in traction in Chi- 
cago. The British Electric Traction Company is the name of the 
'securities company' by means of which street railways in a large 
number of British cities are held in unified ownership by a group 
of capitalists. Its function is similar to that of the United Gas 
Improvement Company of Philadelphia, which owns the gas works 
of scores of American cities, and is itself owned in large part by 
men identified with Standard Oil interests. It is in a pool to 
divide territory and abstain from competition with the group 
of capitalists who are about to 'tube' London. This group of 
capitalists, says Mr. Donald in The Contemporary Review for 
July, 1903, is 'connected with some of the greatest financial and 
trust magnates on the other side. The directors of the new 
Underground Electric Railways of London, for instance, include 
men on the boards of American companies closely identified with 
Standard Oil interests. . There are also representatives of such 
powerful monopolies as the Boston Elevated Railway Company, 
the Union Traction Company of Philadelphia, the Baltimore and 
Cleveland Street Railway combines. They are connected also on 
the American side with the great electrical manufacturing inter- 
ests. A director of the London Underground Company is also 
on the board of the Westinghouse Electrical Manufacturing Com- 
pany, while another director is on the board of the General Elec- 
tric Company, these two powerful combinations dividing between 
them also the entire business of the manufacture of electrical 
apparatus in the United States. * * * There are also share- 
holders in the London Underground Companies identified with 
these various trusts, and with others, such as the interests con- 
trolling the public services? in New York city.' " 

57 



to defeat measures or nullify laws expressing popular 
demands. 

Trust magnates have "watered" stocks with the ob- 
ject of exacting the largest possible amount of tribute 
from the producer and the consumer. 

Rings and rings within rings exist and are being ex- 
tended in many cities in building, manufacturing and 
other branches of local trade and industry, to stifle 
competition. 

All this, is done in a land with unlimited resources 
and capital, with free domestic competition, but "pro- 
tected" against the rest of the world. 

Its free trade opponents, however, point to the good 
results which will result from free competition 
with all the world. 

Under Free Trade. 

Clarence S. Darrow, writing from England, which 
has had free trade and is questioning its utility, says : 

"It is true that the glowing prophecies of the doc- 
trinaire free traders of fifty years ago have proved to 
be only idle dreams. The Utopia that they painted for 
the contemplation of the English workingman, under 
the beneficence of free trade, was every whit as allur- 
ing as the one which the Socialist paints to-day. Rags 
and misery would disapppear. Hunger would be no 
more. Almhouses and jails would fade away. Pros- 
perity and equality would come to every Briton if they 
adopted the simple maxim of selling in the dearest mar- 
ket and buying in the cheapest — of removing trade, 
industry and commerce from the control or regulation 
of restrictive laws. 

"Time has proved the falsity of all these prophecies, 
as it does of most prophecies, political and religious, 
and the English workman is to-day as poor and de- 
pendent as fifty years ago. The fertile fields, the great 
estates, the powerful lords, the luxurious, wasteful, 
consuming class are here in England now just as they 
were half a century ago^ or five centuries ago — just as 
they were in France, just as they are in America — and 
the ragged and the poor and the wretched are here to- 
day as they were then." 

Single Tax. 

Now the Single Taxer comes forward with his rem- 
edy. What it is and what are its hopes of success may 
be judged from the following: 

58 



Ghent, in his admirable work, "Our Benevolent Feu- 
dalism," says of them : 

"They dream of a millenium through the imposition 
of a tax on the economic value of land, and the aboli- 
tion of all other taxes and duties of whatsoever kind. 
Free competition is their shibboleth. * * * But if 
there be one fact in the realm of political economy 
fairly established, it is that the era of competition, free 
or unfree, is dead, and the means of its resurrection 
are unknown to political science. * * * With the 
younger generation visions of free competition are but 
as childrens' dreams." 

Horace White, in the Popular Science Monthly, says 
regarding the improbability of the adoption of the 
single tax by the United States : 

"The land-owners have so many stakes in the coun- 
try, and these are driven so firmly, and woven together 
so tightly, that no revolution can gain head which has 
for its aim to dispossess them of their homes and acres, 
or to unduly tax them." 

Regarding "confiscation" by "economic rent," he 
rightly says : 

"When we are told that the state could not divest 
itself of the right to resume possession of the land, we 
reply that it has never done so. It has only divested 
itself of the right to take it without just compensa- 
tion" 

We question whether the workingman with a home, 
or the farmer with a farm, will consent to the absorp- 
tion of the "unearned increment" of his property and 
still allow his labor power to be subject to the law of 
"supply and demand" and "free competition." 

"Free competition!" It is chiefly cant — hypocrisy! 
Few practice it. It is destructive, inhuman. It is 
only when it is modified by the civilizing hand of the 
democratic-feudalistic principle — that systems are 
made for men, and not men for systems — that what- 
ever good there is in competition is made effective. 

For the producer there is one sure way in which 
there is reallv industrial freedom, and that is where the 
means of production are subject to democratic control. 
The producing class understand this more or less 
clearly, and this explains why the majority of them in- 
stinctively incline toward collectivist theories of indus- 
try rather than to "laissez-faire" and its various mod- 
ifications. They are doubtful as to the road, however, 
and await some one to point the way. 

59 



''Free competition" and its "single tax" ally are out 
of harmony with modern tendencies and are therefore 
discredited. 

The single-taxers are right, however, when they 
assert that the increment created by the community 
should return to the community. In fact, no system is 
justifiable unless it does that, as otherwise it leads to 
concentration of wealth in few hands, with all the evils 
that result therefrom. We favor the return of such 
increment to the community, but desire it to be done 
in such a way as will not interfere with centralized, 
economical and democratic control. Therefore we ad- 
vocate the Guilds. 

When the Guild system is adopted, a tenet of the 
single-taxers — that land should return to the com- 
munity the "unearned increment" which the commu- 
nity creates — will become operative, but not in the par- 
ticular way they advocate. It will operate by natural 
law. 

At present many valuable lots are occupied in the 
cities by great buildings filled with middlemen and 
speculators of more or less doubtful utility. Many 
rooms will be vacant unless occupied by the Guilds, 
but these, having command of labor and material at 
basic prices, and not being compelled to settle in those 
now congested localities, will seek new districts unless 
the owners consent to abandon the "unearned incre- 
ment" and accept prices which are fair to the Guilds. 
This cannot be called "confiscation," as the community 
has never guaranteed that it will permanently reside 
or carry on business in a particular neighborhood. The 
land-owner took that chance when he bought his land.' 

How the "unearned increment" in mining and other 
lands is absorbed is treated elsewhere. 

We have been unable to discover any clear explana- 
tion of how the single tax is to' ascertain and collect 
the "unearned increment." "Rental value" is not "un- 
earned increment." The peasant who removes stones 
and other impediments and brings an almost worth- 
less plot of ground to a condition where its "rental 
value" is considerable, properly considers that he and 
not the community created the "rental value." 

The Guilds go further than the single tax. They 
cause the unearned increment in both land and ma- 
chinery to return to the masses ; they permit competi- 
tion to exist where it is adequate and humane ; they 

60 



institute beneficent monopoly where conditions justify, 
either by an association or by absolute national owner- 
ship, if necessary ; and, above all, they assure indus- 
trial opportunity to every citizen, without regard to 
sex, color, creed or locality, and engrave it on the 
tables of the supreme law, the constitution. 

Socialism. 

In opposition to the "competitive" theory of produc- 
tion comes what is known as "socialism," the extreme 
phase of which is that society should own and operate 
directly and absolutely, "all the means of production, 
distribution, transportation and exchange," as its sup- 
porters express it. It is the reaction from what is not 
inaptly termed the "hell of the competitive system," 
and like most reactions, it goes too far. 

Governmental amelioration of the evils of the com- 
petitive system is classed by the latter's adherents as 
"socialistic." But, in a sense, government is socialis- 
tic ; therefore abolish government, with its laws and in- 
stitutions, and return to barbarism — the rule of brute 
force. That is the logic of it. 

Doubtless some critics will call the Guild plan "so- 
cialistic," while others, in the socialist opposition, will 
term it "competition under another name." Now, the 
author does not care what it may be termed, if it can 
be made apparent to candid minds that it has the 
merits claimed for it. Let the public decide. 

Even if the socialist is right in his assertion — which, 
by the way, he is not — that competition is always de- 
structive, the knowledge of the obstacles to its adop- 
tion in the United States should make him pause. The 
wide extent of territory and the millions of farmers 
who are wary of every form of dispossession, will 
form effective checks to socialism's success for many, 
many years. 

Socialism is a subject that takes the ordinary man 
considerable time to fathom, and when he has reached 
its profoundest depths he is not certain of his ground. 
How, then, can he expect the farming class, which is 
isolated from and unacquainted with many of the com- 
plex questions of modern industry, to see the subject 
from the socialistic viewpoint of the factory worker? 

It is possible, also, on the other hand, that the fac- 
tory worker — accustomed to act, almost to think, me- 

61 



chanically, and pay undue attention to cant phrases of 
pseudo philosophers — fails to comprehend the view- 
point of the farmer who, being* close to Mother Earth 
and seeing the constant struggle between man and 
nature, is more callous to speculative philosophies and 
ballot-box Utopias and prefers what he calls "some- 
thing feasible," that is, feasible to him, a voter. 

Still the farmer has his grievances and it is not un- 
reasonable to expect that he will help to secure eco- 
nomic stability to the worker in factory, railway, mine 
or shop if he thereby assured to himself corresponding 
security in the field of agriculture. This the Guilds 
will do, and it is to> the interest of the farmer to indorse 
them. He will not indorse "socialism." 

Socialists denounce what they term the "step-at-a- 
time policy under capitalist government." But if they 
can be made to see that when the American people 
have put into the organic law — the constitution — the 
principle that the people may fortify themselves 
through their Guild organizations, and that every step 
thereafter is taken only because it is natural and neces- 
sary, and unimpeded by the present pernicious inter- 
ests which the Guilds will have displaced, and will be 
able to go forward to the utmost heights of economic 
and social freedom, then the socialist will understand 
why this <( step-at-a-time," under the Guilds, being 
equitable, timely and practicable, is worthy of support. 
(See Section 3.) 

The good features of socialism are retained in the 
Guild plan and the undesirable features are eliminated ; 
but, unlike socialism, where the government is every- 
thing, the Federal Government is made by the adop- 
tion of the Guilds amendment a simple governing 
body, concerning itself mainly with^ general principles 
and leaving the details of industry to the workers, who 
are most competent to decide them. 

The citizen is guaranteed employment at fair wages 
measured by his own capacity, during his working 
years, and is assured of a competency in his old age. 
He possesses freedom of thought and speech and rea- 
sonable freedom of action. 

While industries are subject to the collective control 
of Guilds, many features of competition are utilized. 
Private property is not prohibited where it does not 
interfere with the public interest. "Confiscation" is 
least thought of and will not obtain. 

62 



The general political institutions of the nation and 
the states are not altered. Gongtess, representing the 
citizens and the states in their general and not merely 
their industrial capacity, will act alike as a spur and a 
check on the Guilds. 

It cannot be said of the Guilds, as is said of social- 
ism, that there will be "too much government" in their 
operation. The Guilds will have their officers and 
board of directors, who will be in every-day session 
and may conduct business as a corporation does to-day. 
The national Government — that is, Congress — will 
meet as at present, and pass on general legislation for 
the public, which will include the Guilds. The Con- 
gress will have its committees and experts to advise it, 
and may conduct its business as expeditiously as it 
does now ; in fact, it may do it with greater ease, as a 
multitude of details wh'ch now occupy its time may be 
left in control of the Guilds. What has been said of 
the national government will apply to state and munic- 
ipal governments, in their special fields. 

The Guild plan is along the line of least resistance, 
inasmuch as it recognizes that there are certain rights 
of capital that must be justly dealt with and at the 
same time permits of an indefinite expansion of public 
control, according as society grows in that direction. 
It does not decry competition always and everywhere, 
as does the socialist, but utilizes it where it is desirable 
and rejects it where it is undesirable or impotent. 
Competition is certainly an evil when carried to an ex- 
treme, particularly in labor power, the least self-defen- 
sive of all the so-called "commodities/' and when, at 
the same time the lever of capital is placed in few 
hands, enabling the possessors to exact the utmost 
from the producer, then indeed is the latter an indus- 
trial slave. The Guilds will prevent these evils, as 
under them industrial power lies in their membership. 

The Guild plan permits of evolution toward the ideal 
of the collectivists, or socialistic school — "industrial 
government" — by easy, natural stages. While we be- 
lieve that the institution of the Guilds will force social- 
ism into obscurity, still it will not impede, but will 
help, its establishment if it is thought necessary. 
Therefore the socialist, as well as his opponent, the 
single-taxer, should support the Guilds. 

When the Guilds amendment is adopted, constitu- 

63 



tional amendment changing the basis of congressional 
representation from districts, as at present, to Guilds, 
in proportion to membership, will institute "industrial 
government." But it will not be necessary. 

Trades Unions. 

Trades unions are associations to prevent undue 
competition in labor and to generally protect wage- 
workers. Trades unions are strong when the demand 
is strong' and weak when the demand is weak. In 
"hard" times they are unions in name only, and many 
of them tumble like a house of cards at the slightest 
adversity. When the inevitable result of labor compe- 
tition is to compel the average man to work for but 
little more than his subsistence, this is natural. Incre- 
ment of land and machinery inuring to the possessor, 
the "labor-saving" of machinery consists in the ability 
of the possessor to live without labor — or new accre- 
tions to the "leisure class." The "consumption" of this 
leisure class is balanced by the "production" of the 
labor-saving machinery. The producing class remains 
in about the same (when it is not worse) condition as 
the producers in ages before machinery. The "wage 
fund" is about the same as before machinery. In other 
words, we repeat, the increment of all the advances in 
processes, machinery and land accrue to their posses- 
sors — unless regulated by society. An examination 
of the quotation from Froude in another part of this 
book proves this. The sturdy, well-fed Englishman of 
the feudal days is in marked contrast to the stunted 
body and brain of his twentieth century successor. We 
must attribute the superiority of the feudal "vassal" to 
the twentieth century "freeman" to the fact that he 
received more and better beef, bread and beer — in 
other words, more wages. . 

Another effect of machinery is that in private own- 
ership it is a lever that permits of the control of indus- 
try that terminates in monopoly, plutocracy, wealth- 
centralization — as we may see by looking around us. 
That we have reached that stage is attested by the 
diagram, "Wealth and Who Owns It ;" also by the fol- 
lowing quotation from BourofFs "Coming Crisis" 
(page 184) : 

"As long as the concentration of wealth in the private 
monopolies, trusts and combinations not only absorbs 

64 



all the yearly increase of wealth produced by the na- 
tion, but absorbs the wealth formerly owned by the 
people, it does not make a difference whether these 
combinations raise or lower the high prices of utilities 
which they speculate in upon ihe market; the wholt 
wealth and the entire rights for wealth must sooner 
or later be concentrated in the hands of a very few 
families, because all the means of concentration are 
within their hands. Consequently, it is not a question 
whether these all-pervading combinations are benefi- 
cient or malificent in their character, as in either case 
they work out the same evil result. But the question 
is only a question of time : how long before the people 
with all their superior productivity and phenomenal 
increase of wealth will have neither wealth nor prop- 
erty, nor rights, nor sufficient means for existence? 
How long before they all shall in all details be abso- 
lutely dependent upon the very few speculators, whose 
unboundfd fortunes the tens of millions of workers 
are constantly compelled to increase? 

"Again, this concentration of wealth can neither be 
hindered by raising the prices of the raw materials 
and products, nor even by the raising of wages, nor by 
lowering the prices of consumable utilities, nor by 
lowering the present rents, because the rate of concen- 
tration of wealth now surpasses all degrees of change 
which may be effected by such regulation, while the 
net profits from the nation's energy and labor are ulti- 
mately derived only by the few, who are becoming 
fewer." 

By the adoption of Article XVI., the Guilds reverse 
the order of concentration of wealth, because, to use 
the words used in the above quotation, "all the means 
of concentration are within their hands." The incre- 
ment of all improvement in forms of production inure 
to the controllers thereof, who, under the Guilds, are 
the producers — the farmer, the miner, the mechanic 
and other forms of labor (which includes talent) — and 
human labor, which is now a mere commodity and 
bought and sold like pig iron or manure, will, under 
the Guilds, resume its proper function, which is human 
life exerting its energies to secure the commodities and 
services which serve to feed, shelter, edify and glorify 
the human race. 

The Guilds may be called trades unions enlarged 

65 



and strengthened. To-day trades unions have no legal 
power to do anything except strike, and even that is 
limited by the interpretation that while an individual 
has the right to strike, he is. subject to charges of con- 
spiracy if he combines with others to strike. The 
Guilds, if adopted, will be unions of all engaged in 
production, with original, exclusive and constitutional 
right to regulate industry, democratically. The ma- 
chinery of existing unions will be useful when the 
Guilds are being organized, and their members will 
have much to say regarding Guild operation. Every 
union man should support the Guild amendment. 



A WORD TO THE WISE CAPITALIST 

Truth is relative right; the right of yesterday may 
be the wrong of to-day. The beneficent competition 
of the days of handicraft may become an evil in the 
days of modern machinery and the industrial trust. To 
imagine that modern industry may be subjected to the 
simple rules of exchange of by-gone days is not only 
an absurd dream but a criminal folly. New condi- 
tions demand new laws, evils demand remedies; the 
remedies will be as drastic as the evils are obdurate. 

It is our duty to discriminate — to be open-minded, 
to be sincere. The rich man should not condemn the 
poor man as "anarchistic" or inspired by vulgar selfish- 
ness when the latter asserts his hatred of existing con- 
ditions ; neither should the poor man denounce the 
rich man who feels that he is a necessary factor in pro- 
duction and endeavors to perform his part. So long 
as capitalistic initiative is permitted, it is right and, in 
fact, necessary ; so long as capitalistic initiative works 
to the disadvantage of the worker, he has a right to 
denounce it, totally or in part, and call for its curtail- 
ment or abandonment. 

It is not by calling hard names that we shall pro- 
gress ; rather by getting together and listening to each 
other. And if we are to disagree, let us meet as am- 
bassadors of opposing armies and be sociable while 
we are in conference. It is not a question of men, but 
of principles. 

66 



A large part of this book is devoted to showing the 
producer how he shall be benefited by the Guilds. We 
appeal to his sense of justice that he may respect the 
rights of the capitalist — that by conservative procedure 
he will secure conditions in harmony with modern 
needs more expeditiously and with less waste of effort 
than by violent or radical means. 

But if conservatism is necessary to the producing 
classes, it is doubly so to the capitalist. He has the 
most to lose and is the more certain to lose, if conflict 
comes, particularly in the United States. 

The signs of the times point to radical changes in 
the future. The experiences of the past few years with 
Populism and "Bryanism" are to be re-enacted in the 
future — only more violently, or under leadership of 
men or parties less circumspect in their criticism of the 
existing order. 

Rebellion is world-wide. The waters of discontent 
are restrained by ingenious political devices. But the 
waters are rising higher and higher, and when the 
dam breaks — and it is only a matter of time — what 
then? 

A King of France was asked that question and his 
petulant answer was "After me, the deluge/' The de- 
luge did come after his death because the masses were 
uneducated and did not move as rapidly, nor as terri- 
bly, nor as inexorably, as the educated masses will in 
the future. Mark this : It is not now the sudden rising 
of the waters of temporary discontent, but the conscious, 
solid massing of educated units, with a definite object. 
It will not do to say "After me, the deluge." The de- 
luge is before you ; its white caps are leaping against 
the dams of privilege in Germany, in Belgium, in 
France, in Italy, in Russia, in America. Unlike a dam 
which is raised higher and higher against threatening 
floods, the dam of privilege is being lowered as a con- 
cession to the aspiring multitude — but in vain, for with 
every concession they grow bolder and with increased 
ardor attacks the legal barriers which restrain them. 

No longer can the wand of caste, of sect, of nation- 
ality, be waved in exorcism of the masses. They 
laugh at you ; they flaunt their banners in your faces ; 
they point to their caste, the producing class ; to their 
religion, the religion of Jesus and of moralists : "Do 
unto others as you would they should do unto you," 

67 



"If a man shall not work, neither shall he eat"; to 
their nationality, the brotherhood of man ! 

The Guild would save you from danger not because 
you are more necessary in the economy of production, 
nor more worthy of protection, than the laborer, but 
because it is more expedient, more just, more in har- 
mony with industrial evolution, to compensate you for 
your acquired privileges than to confiscate them — 
which, by the way, is the only other alternative. 

Says Lord Macaulay : 

"You may think your country enjoys an exemption. 
As long as you have a boundless extent of land you 
may. But the time will come when either some Caesar 
or Napoleon will seize the reins of government, and 
your republic will be as fearfully plundered by barba- 
rians in the twentieth century as the Roman empire 
was in the fifth ; the Huns and Vandals who ravished 
Rome came from without; yours will come from 
within." 

Yes, the Vandals will come from within if the condi- 
tions that breed them are permitted to continue. But 
they should not be permitted to continue. 

If you are a lover of American liberty — of the "free 
institutions" of which w* hear so much at election time 
— you will help strike a blow not only at the Caesars, 
and the Napoleons, but at the Vandals which are their 
cause and their excuse for exercising power. The 
Guild appeals to you. What is your answer? 



68 



APPENDIX 



WHAT GOVERNOR LA FOLLETTE SAYS. 

(From Chicago Chronicle, July 19, 1903.) 

Chautauqua, N. Y., July 18. — Governor Robert M. La Follette, 
of Wisconsin, delivered an address at the Chautauqua assembly 
this afternoon on "Representative Government." He cited exam- 
ples and made comparisons to show that the kind of representative 
government contemplated by the founders of the United States 
government is not present in America today because of the ag- 
gressions of the railroads, trusts and gigantic corporations. He 
laid particular empbasis on the declaration that the people are 
still sovereign and might, if they chose, wrest back the authority 
of government and become as powerful as the framers of the re- 
public intended they should be. 

"The basic principle of this government is the will of the people." 
began Governor La Follette. "Its founders devised a system which 
seemed to assure the means of ascertaining that will, of enacting 
it into legislation and enforcing it through administration of the 
law. It was to be accomplished by electing men to make and 
execute the laws. This was the establishment of a representative 
government where every man had equal voice, equal rights and 
equal responsibilities. 

"Have we such a government today or are we rapidly coming 
to be dominated by forces in making and enacting our laws which 
thwart the will of the people and menace the very life of repre- 
sentative government? No man questioned it for a hundred years 
Whoever asserts it now is denounced as a 'menace to industrial 
progress.' " 

TRUSTS WORSE THAN KING GEORGE. 

Governor La Follette quoted from Washington, Madison, Jeffer- 
son, Hamilton, Webster and Lincoln to show that the fathers of the 
country regarded the people as the source of power. He continued 
as follows : 

"One of the causes of revolution proclaimed in the declaration 
of independence was : 'Imposing taxes on us without our consent.' 
Today great aggregations of corporate wealth buy immunity from 
taxation in our legislatures and throw the burden which they 
should bear upon the individual taxpayer of every municipality and 
state. Betrayed by his representative, the individual taxpayer is 
overtaxed for the benefit of the corporation. 

"Taxation without representation is as much a crime against 
just and equal government in 1903 as it was in 1776. Government 
by corporations is as destructive of the liberties of the people of 
this country as the exercise of the same power by a foreign mon- 
arch. 

"The arbitrary control of the price of coal and iron and corn 
and wheat and beef, whether by an extortionate transportation 
rate or by a monster combination, is a more absolute tyranny of 
the American people than quartering the army of King George 
upon the American colonists without their consent. 

"Let us see if the time be not ripe for a new declaration of 
American independence. We are building up colossal fortunes, 
granting unlimited power to corporate organization and consolidat- 
ing and massing together business interests as never before in the 
commercial history of the world, but the people are losing control 
of their own government. Its foundations are being sapped and 
its integrity destroyed. 

"The gravest danger menacing republican institutions today is 
the overbalancing control of city, state and national legislatures 
by the wealth and power of public service corporations. The na- 
tional government, every state government, every city government 
has its problem to solve — not at some other time, but now." 

PREVENT LEGISLATURES CURBING THEM. 
The Governor elaborated on the control of business by railroad 
corporations and said the problem which that control presented 
should be solved "not in any spirit of blind, irrational prejudice, 
but with an enlightened public policy that uses all power lodged 
in the government against wrongful usurpation of inherent right." 
He added: 

69 



"Why has this not been done? Why does all effort directed to 
this end fall upon deaf legislative ears? I would not be misunder- 
stood as charging general individual corruption. There are thou- 
sands of honest, fearless men in public life throughout this country. 
Every executive wanting in honesty or courage, every legislator 
who is weak or corrupt, is sure to be controlled by the lobby 
agents of the great corporations. Occasionally by straight, simple 
bribe, more often by insidious indirect means, the.v are ensnared 
and captured by alluring deals and promises of political profer- 
ment or frightened and intimidated by threats to ruin them in 
business and bring about political annihilation. 

"It is the close association of political and corporate power that 
defrauds thi public of its rights, defeats legislation for the general 
good and passes laws to promote private interests. 

CITES EVIDENCE OF BRIBERY. 

"The New York legislative investigation of the Erie railway 
reported that more than $1,000,000 was spent in one year for 
'extra legal services' — that money paid to political bosses was 
charged to the 'India rubber account.' 

"More recently the treasurer of the New York Central testified 
that his company paid out for legislation in one year $60,000, and 
in another $205,000." 

Governor La Follette quoted freely from correspondence between 
the late C. P. Huntington and General Colton in regard to the 
payment of money for the passage of legislative measures and for 
the control of congressmen. In one of the letters from Mr. Hunt- 
ington he used the following language : 

"It is very important that his friends in Washington should be 
with us, and if that should be brought about by paying Carr say 
$10,000 to $20,000 a year, I think we could afford to do it, but 
of course not until he had controlled his friends." 

The Governor reviewed the interstate commerce act, showing 
that its purpose is to prevent discrimination in railroad rates on 
commerce between the states and to secure just and reasonable 
rates. He quoted from the reports of the commission to show the 
appeals which it made to congress to remedy the defects in the 
law and to strengthen its powers. Continuing he said : 

"If there were no further evidences of the power of the railroads 
in legislation than that which is afforded by the statements from 
the record of the interstate commerce commission it ought to 7 
arouse the entire country to such action as will bring congress to 
a sense of its responsibility t'o the people for some measure of 
justice and fair play." 

RULE CONGRESS DESPITE PRESIDENT. 

The Governor said that congress was indifferent to President 
Roosevelt's recommendation and that while at the last session a 
slight concession was made in the, form of a bill applying to pref- 
erential rates, the one thing needful to protect the public against 
unreasonable transportation charges, "the power to fix reasonable 
rates for the future was denied and not allowed to pass." "And," 
he continued, "the railway companies have secured the defeat of 
this legislation in congress. Their influence has been more power 
ful than that of the people ; their wishes and their whispered 
directions have been more potent than the outspoken and oft- 
repeated demands of their constituents, the recommendations of 
the commission or even those of the president of the United 
States." 

Governor La Follette read a letter bearing on the action of the 
last congress, which was written to him by a United States sen- 
ator under date of Feb. 9, 1903, in which the following language 
was used : 

"It is expecting too much from human nature that senators, 
whose every association is with the great railroad corporations, 
and whose political lives largely depend on them, should, in good 
faith, approve a measure that would to an extent make the rail- 
roads a servant of the people and to be subject to the decision of 
the commission when a question of rates is raised. The senate 
committee is by a decided majority composed of men who bear 
those relations to the railroads." 

"How clearly this discloses the naked truth," continued Governor 

70 



La Follette, "how startling, how abhorrent. The United States 
senate in close association with the great railroads and corpora- 
tions. Yet we cannot reject the testimony offered. It must be 
bravely met. How to make this august body serve the people 
instead of corporate power — not 100 years from now — but right 
soon, is the part of the problem I shall discuss in speaking of the 
remedy for the evils considered. 

"The railroad prefers; to deal with large shippers and it squeezes 
out the small ones. It encourages centralization in business. It 
creates and nourishes monopoly. Every great trust and combina- 
tion in this country is either the direct offspring or foster child 
of the railroad." 

TRACES THE FORMATION OF TRUSTS. 

Governor La Follette then gave a resume of the history of the 
anthracite coal monopoly, showing how the anthracite fields came 
into the hands of the railway companies and that these companies 
have an absolute control of the supply of anthracite. He said 
that by increasing freight rates in the first place and by refusing 
to carry coal for private owners at any price they brought all 
private owners in the Pennsylvania fields to their terms. These 
roads did this, he said, in defiance of the constitution of Pennsyl- 
vania. He traced the formation of the soft coal monopoly in 
Missouri and other western states, and said : 

"Thus within a few years the railroad companies have conceived 
and executed plans which will enable a few corporations acting in 
combination to control the power that moves the wheels of indus- 
try and the entire fuel supply of the people of this country. 

"The plan developed and consummated in building up the Stan- 
dard Oil monopoly, the anthracite coal trust, the elevator combina- 
tion and the beef trust are indicative of the power of the railroads 
in combination. There is not an important trust in the United 
States which does not have the assistance of the railroads in 
destroying its competitors in business. 

"The limitation and control of these public service corporations 
in their legitimate field as common carriers is of primary im- 
portance in the practical solution of the trust problem which con- 
fronts the people of this country. It is manifest that any trust 
legislation to be effective must go hand in hand with a control 
over railway rates by the federal government on interstate com- 
merce through an enlargement of the powers of the interstate com- 
merce commission and a like control of railroad rates on state 
commerce by each of the states through a state railway commis- 
sion. Added to this, the railroad companies must be prohibited 
from using the extraordinary powers conferred on them by the 
state for any other purpose than in conducting the transportation 
business for which they were organized." 

SAYS ROADS EVADE TAXES. 

Governor La Follette then took up the discussion of the Influ- 
ence of the public service corporations in state and municipal 
legislation. He graphically and at some length described how by 
a combination of the old political machine and the railroad lobby 
all efforts to make the railroads pay their equal portion of the 
taxes in Wisconsin and to secure a direct primary for the nomina- 
tion of all candidates for office by a vote of the people had been 
successfully resisted since 1898. He told how a direct primary 
bill with a referendum proviso and a bill for the eaualization of 
the taxes of the railroads were passed through the legislature of 
1903, but how the railroads succeeded in defeating a bill to estab- 
lish a railway commission for the control of freight rates and a 
bill to prohibit the raising of the present rates. He had hopes, 
however, of succeeding along this line in future. 

MORE PROOF OF BOODLING. 

The Governor paid a tribute to President Roosevelt, District 
Attorney Jerome, of New York, and District Attorney Folk, of St. 
Louis, and cited the failure of Addicks to buy a United States 
senatorship and the conviction of the mayor of Minneapolis, the 
driving out of the boodlers of Baltimore as striking examples of 

71 



victories which had been won by a single supreme effort to arouse 
public sentiment. He went on : 

"The existence of this wicked alliance between the machine 
and the corporations and the lust for money and power out of 
which it was born, was never more brazenly confessed to the world 
than in the recent interview by Charles R. Brayton, machine boss 
of Rhode Island, the principal lobbyist for leading public service 
corporations of that state. He said: 

" 'I am an attorney for certain clients and I look for their In- 
terests before the legislature. I am retained annually by the New 
York, New Haven & Hartford Railway Company, as every one 
knows. I act for the Rhode Island Company (street car interests), 
and I have been retained in certain cases by the Providence Tele- 
phone Company. In addition to this I have had connections, not 
permanent, with various companies desiring franchises, charters 
and things of that sort from the legislature. I never solicit any 
business. It comes to me unsought. You see, in managing the 
campaign year after year I am in a position to be of service to 
men all over the state. I help them to get elected, and, naturally, 
many warm friendships result ; then, when they are in a position 
to repay me they are glad to do it.' " 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Preamble. 
We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more 
perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, pro- 
vide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and 
secure the blessings of liberty to ourslves and our posterity, do 
ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of 
America. 

ARTICLE I. 
Legislative powers. 
Section I. All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested 
in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Sen- 
ate and House of Representatives. 

House of Representatives. 

Siection II. 1. The House of Representatives shall be composed 
of members chosen every second year by the people of the several 
States, and the electors in each State shall have the qualifications 
requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State 
Legislature. 

Qualifications of Representatives. 

2. No person shall be r. Representative who shall not have 
attained the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a 
citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be 
an inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen. 

Apportionment of Representatives. 

3. Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among 
the several States which may be included within this Union ac- 
cording to their respective numbers, which shall be determined 
by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those 
bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not 
taxed, three-fifths of all other persons. The actual enumeration 
shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the 
Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term 
of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. The 
number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty 
thousand, but each State shall have at least one Representative ; 
and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New 
Hampshire shall be entitled to choose 3 ; Massachusetts, 8 ; Rhode 
Island and Providence Plantations, 1 ; Connecticut, 5 ; New 
York, 6 ; New Jersey, 4 ; Pennsylvania, 8 ; Delaware, 1 ; Maryland. 
6 ; Virginia, 10 ; North Carolina, 5 ; Siouth Carolina, 5, and 
Georgia, 3 

Vacancies. 

4. When vacancies happen in the representation from any 
State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue writs of elec- 
tion to fill such vacancies. 

72 



Officers. 
5. The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker 
and other officers, and shall have the sole power of impeachment. 

Senate. 
Section III. 1. The Senate of the United States shall be com- 
posed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature 
thereof, for six years ; and each Senator shall have one vote. 

Classification of Senators. 

2. Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence 
of the first election, they shall be divided as equally as may be 
into three classes. The seats of the Senators of the first class 
shall be vacated at the expiration of the second year, of the 
second class at the expiration of the fourth year, and of the third 
class at the expiration of the sixth year, so that one-third may be 
chosen every second year ; and if vacancies happen by resignation, 
or otherwise, during the recess of the Legislature of any State, 
the Executive thereof may make temporary appointment until the 
next meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such vacan- 
cies. 

Qualifications of Senators. 

3. No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained 
to the age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the 
United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant 
of that State for which he shall be chosen. 

President of Senate. 

4. The Vice-President of the United States shall be President 
of the Senate, but shall have no vote unless they be equally 
divided. 

Other Officers. 

5. The Senate shall choose their other officers, and also a 
President pro tempore, in the absence of the Vice-President, or 
when he shall exercise the office of President of the United States. 

Senate to Try Impeachments. 

6. The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeach- 
ments. When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath 
or affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, 
the Chief Justice shall preside ; and no person shall be convicted 
without the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present. 

Judgment Upon Conviction. 

7. Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further 
than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy 
any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States ; but 
the party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to 
indictment, trial, judgment and punishment, according to law. 

Elections. 
Section IV. 1. The times, places, and manner of holding elec- 
tions for Senators and Representatives shall be prescribed in each 
State by the Legislature thereof ; but' the Congress may at any 
time by law make or alter such regulations, except as to places of 
choosing Senators. 

Meeting of Congress. 

2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and 
such meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they 
shall by law appoint a different day. 

Organization of Congress. 

Section V. 1. Each House shall be the judge of the elections, 
returns, and qualifications of its own members, and a majority of 
each shall constitute a quorum to do business ; but a smaller num- 
ber may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to com- 
pel the attendance of absent members in such manner and under 
such penalties as each House may provide. 
Rule of Proceedings. 

2. Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings, pun- 
ish its members for disorderly behavior, and with the concurrence 
of two-thirds expel a member. 

Journals of Each House. 

3. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from 

73 



time to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their 
judgment require secrecy ; and the yeas and nays of the members 
of either House on any question shall, at the desire of one-fifth of 
those present, be entered on the journal. 

Adjournment of Congress. 

4. Neither House, during the session of Congress, shall, without 
the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor 
to any other place than that in which the two Houses shall be 
sitting. 

Compensation and Privileges. 

Section VI. 1. The Senators and Representatives shall receive 
a compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law. and 
paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all 
cases, except treason, felony, and breach of the peace, be privi- 
leged from arrest during their attendance at the session of their 
respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same, and 
for any speech or debate in either House they shall not be ques- 
tioned in any other place. 

Other Offices Prohibited. 
2. No Senator or Representative shall, during the time for 
which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the 
authority of the United States which shall have been created, or the 
emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time : 
and no person holding any office under the United States shall be 
a member of either House during his continuance in office. 

Revenue Bills. 
Section VII. 1. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in 
the House of Representatives, but the Senate may propose or con- 
cur with amendments, as on other bills. 

Bills and Laws. 

2. Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representa- 
tives and the Senate shall, before it become a law, be presented to 
the President of the United States ; if he approve, he shall sign 
it, but' if not, he shall return it, with his objections, to that House 
in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the objections 
at large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider it. if after 
such reconsideration two-thirds of that House shall agree to pass 
the bill, it shall be sent', together with the objections, to the other 
House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered ; and if approved 
by two-thirds of that House it shall become a law. But in all 
such cases the votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas 
and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and against 
the bill shall be entered on the journal of each House respectively. 
If any bill shall not be returned by the President within ten davs 
(Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the 
same shall be a law in like manner as if he had signed it, unless 
the Congress by their adjurnment prevent it's return ; in which 
case it shall not be a law. 

Approval and Veto Poioers of the President. 

3. Every order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence 
of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary 
(except on a question of adjournment) shall be presented to the 
President' of the United States, and before the same shall take 
effect shall be approved by him,, or being disapproved by him, shall 
be repassed by two-thirds of the Senate and the House of Repre- 
sentatives, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in 
the case of a bill. 

POWERS VESTED 5N CONGRESS. 

Section VIII. 1. The Congress shall have power 
To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the 
debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of 
the United States, but all duties, imposts, and excises shall be 
uniform throughout the United States. 

2. To borrow money on the credit of the United States. 

3. To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the 
several States, and with the Indian tribes. 

4. To establish an uniform rule of naturalization and uniform 
laws on the subject of bankruptcy throughout the United States. 

5. To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, 
and fix the standard of weights and measures. 

74 



6. To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities 
and current coin of the United States. 

7. To establish post-offices and post-roads. 

8. To promote the progress of science and useful arts by secur- 
ing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive rights 
to their respective writings and discoveries. 

9. To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court. 

10. To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the 
high seas, and offenses against the law of nations. 

11. To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and 
make rules concerning captures on land and water. 

12. To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money 
to that use shall be for a longer term than two years. 

13. To provide and maintain a navy. 

14. To make rules for the government and regulation of the 
land and naval forces. 

15. To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws 
of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions. 

16. To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the 
militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed 
in the service of the United States, reserving to the States re- 
spectively the appointment of the officers, and the authority of 
training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Con- 
gress. 

17. To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever 
over such district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may by ces- 
sion of particular States and the acceptance of Congress, become 
the seat of Government of the United States, and to exercise like 
authority over all places purchased by the consent' of the Legisla- 
ture of the State in which the same shall be, for the erection 
of forts, magazines, arsenals, dry-docks, and other needful buildings. 

18. To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for 
carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers, 
vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, 
or in any department or officer thereof. 

Immigrants, How Admitted. 
Section IX. 1. The migration or importation of such persons 
as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit 
shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thou- 
sand eight hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed 
on such importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person. 

Habeas Corpus. 

2. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be sus- 
pended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public 
safety may require it. 

Attainder. 

3. No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed. 

Direct Taxes. 

4. No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in 
proportion to the census or enumeration hereinbefore directed to 
be taken. 

Regulations Regarding Customs Duties. 

5. No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any 
State. 

6. No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or 
revenue to the ports of one State over those of another, nor shall 
vessels bound to or from one State be obliged to enter, clear, or 
pay duties in another. 

Moneys, How Drawn. 

7. No money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in conse- 
quence of appropriations made by law; and a regular statement and 
account of the receipts and expenditures of all public moneys shall 
be published from time to time. 

Titles of Nobility Prohibited. 

8. No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States. 
And no person holding any office of profit or trust under them shall, 
without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolu- 
ment, office, or title of any kind whatever from any king, prince, 
or foreign state. 



Powers of States Defined. 
Section X. 1. No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or 
confederation, grant letters of marque and reprisal, coin money, 
emit bills of credit, make anything but gold and silver coin a tender 
in payment of debts, pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, 
or law impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of 
nobility. 

2. No State shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay any 
impost or duties on imports or exports, except what may be abso- 
lutely necessary for executing its inspection laws, and the net 
produce of all duties and imposts, laid by any State on imports or 
exports, shall be for the use of the Treasury of the "United States, 
and all such laws shall be subject to the revision and control of 
the Congress. 

3. No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any 
duty of tonnage, keep troops or ships of war in time of peace, 
enter into any. agreement or compact with another State, or with 
a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or In 
such imminent danger as will not admit of delay. 

ARTICLE II. 

Executive Power, in Whom Vested. 
Section I. i. The Executive power shall be vested in a Presi- 
dent of the United States of America. He shall hold his office 
during the term of four years, and, together with the Vice-Pres ; - 
dent, chosen for the same term, be elected as follows : 

Electors. 

2. Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature 
thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole num- 
ber of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be 
entitled in the Congress ; but no Snatbr or Representative or per- 
son holding an office of trust or profit under the United States shall 
be appointed an elector. 

Proceedings of Electors. 
Proceedings of House of Representatives. 

3. [The electors shall meet in their respective States and vote 
by ballot for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an 
inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall 
make a list' of all the persons voted for, and of the number of 
votes for each, which list they shall sign and certify and transmit, 
sealed, to the seat of the Government of the United States, di- 
rected to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate 
shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, 
open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted. The 
person having the greatest number of votes shall be the President, 
if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors ap- 
pointed, and if there be more than one who have such majority, 
and have an equal number of votes, then the House of Represen- 
tatives shall immediately choose by ballot one of them for President : 
and if no person have a majority, then from the five highest on 
the list the said House shall in like manner choose the President. 
But in choosing the President, the vote shall be taken by States. 
the representation from each State having one vote. A quorum, 
for this purpose, shall consist of a member or members from two- 
thirds of the States, and a majority of all the States shall be 
necessary to a choice. In every case, after the choice of the 
President 1 , the person having the greatest number of votes of the 
electors shall be the Vice-President. But if there should remain 
two or more who have equal votes, the Senate shall choose from 
them by ballot the Vice-President.]* 

Time of choosing electors. 

4. The Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors 
and the day on which they shall give their votes, which day shall 
be the same throughout the United States. 

Qualifications of the President. 

5. No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the 
United States at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall 
be eligible to the office of President ; neither shall any person be 
eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of 



*This clause is superseded by Article XII, Amendments. 

76 



thirty-five years and been fourteen years a resident within the 
United States. 

Provision for Disability. 

6. In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his 
death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties 
of the said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice-President, and 
the Congress may by law provide for the case of removal, death, 
resignation, or inability, both of the President and Vice-President, 
declaring what officer shall then act as President, and such officer 
shall act accordingly until the disability be removed or a President 
shall be elected. 

Salary. 

7. The President shall, at stated times, receive for his services a 
compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished dur- 
ing the period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall 
not receive within that period any other emolument from the 
United States, or any of them. 

Oath. 

8. Before he enter on the execution of his office he shall take 
the following oath or affirmation : 

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute 
the office of President of the United States, and will, to the best 
of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the 
United States." 

Duties. 

Section II. 1. The President shall be Commander-in-Chief of the 
Army and Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the 
several States when called into the actual service of the United 
States ; he may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal 
officer in each of the executive departments upon any subject relating 
to the duties of their respective offices, and he shall have power 
to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United 
States except in cases of impeachment. 

May Make Treaties, Appoint Officials, etc. 

2. He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent 
of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two-thirds of the Sen- 
ators present concur ; and he shall nominate, and by and with 
the advice and consent of the Senate shall appoint ambassadors, 
other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, 
and all other officers of the United States whose appointments are 
not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established 
by law ; but the Congress may by law vest the appointment ^f 
such inferior officers as they think proper in the President alone, 
in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments. 

May Fill Vacancies. 

3. The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that 
may happen during the recess of the Senate by granting commis- 
sions, which shall expire at the end of their next session. 

May Convene Congress and Make Recommendations. 

Section III. Hie shall from time to time give to the Congress 
information of the state of the Union, and recommend to their 
consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expe- 
dient ; he may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, 
or either of them, and in case of disagreement between them with 
respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such 
time as he shall think proper ; he shall receive ambassadors and 
other public ministers ; he shall take care that the laws be faith- 
fully executed, and shall commission all the officers of the United 
States. 

May Be Impeached. 

Section IV. The President, Vice-President, and all civil officers 
of the United States shall be removed from office on impeachment 
for and conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and 
misdemeanors. 

ARTICLE III. 

Judicial Power. 
Section I. The judicial power of the United States shall be 
vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the 
Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The judges, 

77 



U . O L 



both of the Supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices 
during good behavior, and shall at stated times receive for their 
services a compensation which shall not be diminished during their 
continuance in office. 

To What Cases it Extends. 
Section II. 1. The judicial power shall extend to all cases in 
law and equity arising under this Constitution, the laws of the 
United States, and treaties made, or which shall be made under 
their authority ; to all cases affecting ambassadors, other public 
ministers, and consuls ; to all cases of admiralty and maritime 
jurisdiction ; to controversies to which the United States shall be 
a party ; to controversies between two or more states, between a 
State and citizens of another State, between citizens of different 
States, between citizens of the same State claiming lands under 
grants of different States, and between a State, or the citizens 
thereof, and foreign States, citizens, or subjects. 

Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. 

2. In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and 
consuls, and those in which a State shall be party, the Supreme 
Court shall have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases be- 
fore-mentioned the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction 
both as to law and fact, with such exceptions and under such 
regulations as the Congress shall make. 

Rules Respecting Trials. 

3. The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall 
be by jury, and such trial shall be held in the State where the said 
crimes shall have been committed ; but when not committed within 
any State the trial shall be at such place or places as the Con- 
gress may by law have directed. 

Treason Defined. 
Section III. 1. Treason against the United States shall con- 
sist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their 
enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be con- 
victed of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the 
same overt act, or on confession in open court. 

Hoiv Punished. 

2. The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of 
treason, but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of 
blood or forfeiture except during the life of the person attained. 

ARTICLE IV. 

Rights of States. 
Section I. Full faith and credit shall be given in each State 
to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other 
State. And the Congress may by general laws prescribe the man- 
ner in which such acts, records, and proceedings shall be proved, 
and the effect thereof. 

Privileges of Citizens. 

Section II. 1. The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all 
privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States. 

Executive Requisitions. 

2. A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other 
crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in another State, 
shall, on demand of the Executive authority of the State from 
which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having 
jurisdiction of the crime. 

Laws Regulating Labor. 

3. No person held to service or labor in one State, under the 
laws thereof, escaping into another shall, in consequence of any 
law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, 
but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such ser- 
vice or labor may be due. 

New States, How Admitted. 
Section III. 1. New States may be admitted by the Congress 
into this Union, but no new State shall be formed or erected within 
the jurisdiction of any other State, nor any State be formed by 



the junction of two or more States, or parts of States, without 
the consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned, as well 
as of the Congress. 

Disposal of Public Lands. 

2. The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all 
needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other 
property belonging to the United States ; and nothing in this Con- 
stitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the 
United States, or of any particular State. 

Republican Government Guaranteed. 

Section IV. The United States shall guarantee to every State 
in this Union a republican form of government, and shall protect 
each of them against invasion, and, on application of the Legisla- 
ture, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be con- 
vened), against domestic violence. 

ARTICLE V. 

Constitution, How Amended. 
The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both Houses shall deem it 
necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, 
on the application of the Legislatures of two-thirds of the several 
States, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, 
in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part 
of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three- 
fourths of the several States, or by conventions in three-fourths 
thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be pro- 
posed by the Congress ; provided that no amendment which may be 
made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall 
in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the Ninth Sec- 
tion of the First Article : and that no State, without its consent, 
shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate. 

ARTICLE VI. 

Certain Debts Valid. 

1. All debts contracted and engagements entered into before the 
adoption of this Constitution shall be as valid against the United 
States under this Constitution as under the Confederation. 

Supreme Law Defined. 

2. This Constitution and the laws of the United States which 
shall be made in pursuance thereof and all treaties made, or which 
shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be 
the supreme law of the land, and the judges in every State shall 
be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any 
State to the contrary notwithstanding. 

Oath; of Whom Required. 

3. The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the 
members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and 
judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several 
States, shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support this Con 
stitution ; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualifi 
cation to any office or public trust under the United States. 

ARTICLE VII. 

Ratification of Constitution. 

The ratification of the Conventions of nine States shall be suffi- 
cient for the establishment of this Constitution between the States 
so ratifying the same. 

AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION. 

(Declared in Force December 15, 1791.) 

ARTICLE I. 

Religion and Free Speech. 
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of re- 
ligion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ; or abridging the 
freedom of speech or of the press ; or the right of the people peace- 
ably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of 
grievances. 

79 



ARTICLE II. 
Right to Bear Arms. 
A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free 
State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be 
infringed. 

ARTICLE' III. 

Soldiers in Time of Peace. 
No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house 
without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war but In a 
manner to be prescribed by law. 

ARTICLE IV. 

Right of Search. 

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, 
papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, 
shall not be violated, and no warrant shall issue but upon prob- 
able cause supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly de- 
scribing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be 
seized. 

ARTICLE V. 
Arrest for Capital Crimes. 
No person shall be held to answer for a capital or other in- 
famous crime unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand 
jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the 
militia, when in actual service, in time of war or public danger : 
nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice 
put in jeopardy of life or limb ; nor shall be compelled in any crim- 
inal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, 
liberty or property, without due process of law ; nor shall private 
property be taken for public use without just compensation. 

ARTICLE VI. 
Right to Speedy Trial. 
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right 
to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and 
district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which dis- 
trict shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be in- 
formed of the nature and cause of the accusation ; to be confronted 
with the witnesses against him ; to have compulsory process for 
obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of 
counsel for his defense. 

ARTICLE VII. 
Trial by Jury. 
In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall 
exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be pre- 
served, and no fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise re-examined 
in any court of the United States than according to the rules of 
the common law. 

ARTICLE VIII. 

Excessive Bail. 
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, 
nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. 

ARTICLE IX. 

Constitutional Rights. 

The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not 
be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. 

ARTICLE X. 

Rights of States. 

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitu- 
tion, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved! to the States 
respectively, or to the people. 

80 



ARTICLE XI. 

(Declared in Force January 8, 1798.) 
Judicial Power. 

The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed 
to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted 
against one of the United States, by citizens of another State, or 
by citizens or subjects of any foreign State. 

ARTICLE XII. 

(Ratified by all States with the exception of Connecticut, Dela- 
ware, Massachusetts and New Hampslvvre. .Declared in Force 
September 28, 1804.)- \\ 

Method of Choosing President. 
Vice-President. 

The electors shall meet in their respective Slates, and vote by 
ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom at least 
shall not be an inhabitant of the same State with themselves ; 
they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as Presi- 
dent, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President ; 
and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as Presi- 
dent, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the 
number of votes for each, which list they shall sign and certify, 
and transmit, sealed, to the seat of the Government of the United 
States, directed to the President of the Senate ; the President of 
the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Rep- 
resentatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be 
counted ; the person having the greatest number of votes for Presi- 
dent shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the 
whole number of electors appointed ; and if no person have such 
majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers, not 
exceeding three, on the list of those voted for as President, the 
House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the 
President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken 
by States, the representation from each state having one vote ; a 
quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from 
two-thirds of the States, and a majority of all the States shall be 
necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall 
not choose a President, whenever the right of a choice shall devolve 
upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then 
the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the 
death or other constitutional disability of the President. The per- 
son having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President shall 
be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole 
number of electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, 
then from the two highest numbers on the list the Senate shall 
choose the Vice-President ; a quorum for the purpose shall consist 
of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of 
the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person 
constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible 
to that of Vice-President of the United States. 

ARTICLE XIII. 

(Ratified by 31 of the 36 States; rejected by Delaware and Ken- 
tucky; conditionally ratified by Alabama and Mississippi; 
Texas refrained from taking action. Proclaimed December 
18, 1865.) 

Slavery Abolished. 

1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punish- 
ment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, 
shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their 
jurisdiction. 

2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appro- 
priate legislation. 

ARTICLE XIV. 

(Ratified by 23 Northern States; rejected by Delaware, Kentucky, 

Maryland and 10 Southern States; California refrained from 

taking action.. The amendment was subsequently ratified by 

the Southern States and was proclaimed July 28, 1868.) 

Citizens 7/ ip. 

1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and 

81 



subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United 
States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall 
make or enforce any law- which shall abridge the privileges or im- 
munities of citizens of the United States ; nor shall any State de- 
prive any person of life, liberty or property without due process 
of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal 
protection of the laws. 

Representation. 

2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States 
according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number 
of voters in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when 
the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for 
President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives 
in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a State, or the 
members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male 
members of such State, being of twenty-one years of age, and 
citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for 
participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representa- 
tion therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of 
such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citi- 
zens twenty-one years of age in such State. 

Rebellion Against the United States. 

3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, 
or elector of President and Vice-President, or holding any office, 
civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, 
who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, 
or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State 
Legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to 
support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged 
in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid and com- 
fort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two- 
thirds of each House, remove such disability. 

Public Debt. 

4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, author- 
ized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and 
bounties for services in suppressing insurrection and rebellion, 
shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any 
State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid 
of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim 
for the loss or emancipation of any slave ; but all such debts, obli- 
gations, and claims shall be held illegal and void. 

5. The Congress shall have power to enforce by appropriate 
legislation the provisions of this article. 

ARTICLE XV. 

Right of Suffrage. 

(Ratified by 30 States; rejected by California, Delaware, Kentucky, 
Maryland, New Jersey and Oregon ; Tennessee refrained from 
taking action. On January 5, 1870, New York rescinded its 
ratification. Proclaimed March 30, 1870.) 

1. The right of the citizens of the United States to vote shall 
not be denied or abridged by the United Sltates or by any State 
on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. 

2. The Congress shall have power to enforce the provisions of 
this article by appropriate legislation. 

RATIFICATION OF THE CONSTITUTION. 

The thirteen original States ratified the Constitution in the fol- 
lowing order : 

Delaware, December 7, 1787, unanimously ; Pennsylvania, Decem- 
ber 12, 1787, by vote of 46 to 23 ; New Jersey, December 18, 1787, 
unanimously ; Georgia, January 2, 1788, unanimously ; Connecticut, 
January 9, 1788, by vote of 128 to 40 ; Massachusetts, February 6, 
1788, by vote of 187 to 168; Maryland, April 28, 1788, by vote 
of 63 to 12; South Carolina, May 23, 1788, by vote of 149 to 73; 
New Hampshire, June 21, 1788, by vote of 57 to 46; Virginia, 
June 25, 1788, by vote of 89 to 79 ; New York, July 26, 1788, by 
vote of 30 to 28 ; North Carolina, November 21, 1789, by vote of 
193 to 75 ; Rhode Island, May 29, 1790, by vote of 34 to 32. 

82 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE OF THE 
THIRTEEN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary 
for one people to dissolve the political bands which have con- 
nected them with another, and to assume among the powers of 
the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of 
nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect for 
the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the 
causes which impel them to the separation. 

We hold these truths to be self-evident : that all men are cre- 
ated equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain 
unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the 
pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights governments 
are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the 
consent of the governed, that whenever any form of government 
becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people 
to alter or to abolish it, and to institue new government, laying 
its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in 
such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their 
safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that gov- 
ernments long established should not be changed for light and 
transient causes ; and accordingly all experience hath shown that 
mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, 
than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they 
are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpa- 
tions, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to 
reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it Is 
their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new 
guards for their future security. Such has been the patient 
sufferance of these Colonies, and such is now the necessity 
which constrains them to alter their former systems of govern- 
ment. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a his- 
tory of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct 
object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these States. 
To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world. 

He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and 
necessary for the public good. 

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate 
and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till 
his assent should be obtained ; and when so suspended, he has 
utterly neglected to attend to them. 

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of 
large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish 
the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable 
to them, and formidable to tyrants only. 

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, 
uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public 
records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance 
with his measures. 

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly for opposing 
with manly firmness his invasion on the rights of the people. 

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to 
cause others to be elected, whereby the legislative powers, in- 
capable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for 
their exercise; the State remaining, in the meantime, exposed to 
all the dangers of invasion from without and convulsions within. 

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States : 
for that purpose, obstructing the laws for naturalization of 
foreigners ; refusing to pass others to encourage their migra- 
tions hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of 
lands. 

He has obstructed the administration of justice by refusing his 
assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers. 

He has made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure 
of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. 

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither 
swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their sub- 
stance. 

He has kept among us, in time of peace, standing armies, with- 
out the consent of our legislatures. 

83 



He has affected to render the military independent of and 
superior to the civil power. 

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction 
foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged bv our laws ; 
giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation: 

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us ; 

For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for 
any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of 
these States ; 

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world ; 

For imposing taxes on us without our consent; 

For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial by 
jury ; 

For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended 
offenses ; 

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighbor- 
ing province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and 
enlarging its boundaries, soi as to render it at once an example 
and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule in 
these colonies ; 

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuab 7 e 
laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments ; 

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves 
Invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. 

He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his 
protectiOD, and waging war against us. 

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our 
towns, destroyed the lives of our people. 

He is, at this time, transporting large armies of foreign mer- 
cenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, 
already begun, with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely 
paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the 
head of a civilized nation. 

He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the 
high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the 
executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves 
by their hands. 

He has excited domestic insurrection amongst us, and has 
endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the mer- 
ciless Indian savages whose known rule of warfare is an undis- 
tinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions. 

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for 
redress in the most humble terms ; our repeated petitions have 
been answered only by repeated injury. A prince whose character 
is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant is unfit 
to be the ruler of a free people. 

Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British breth- 
ren. We have warned them, from time to time, of attempts by 
their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. 
We have reminded them of the circumstances of our immigra- 
tion and settlement here. We have appealed to their native 
justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the 
ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which 
would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. 
They, too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and of con- 
sanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity 
which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold 
the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends. 

We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of 
America, in General Congress assmbled, appealing to the Supreme 
Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in 
the name and by authority of the good people of these Colonies, 
solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, 
and of right ought to be, free and independent States ; that 
they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and 
that all political connections between them and the State of 
Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved ; and that 



as free and independent States they have full power to levy war, 
conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce and to 
do all other acts and things which independent States may of 
right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm 
reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually 
pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred 
honor. JOHN HANCOCK. 

Georgia — Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, Geo. Walton. North 
Carolina — Wm. Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn. South Carolina 
— Edward Rutiedge, Thomas Hey ward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., 
Arthur Middleton. Maryland — Samuel Chase, Wm. Paca, Thos. 
Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton. Virginia — George Wythe, 
Richard Henry Lee, Thos. Jefferson, Benja. Harrison, Thos. Nel- 
son, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton. Pennsylvania — 
Robt. Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benja. Franklin, John Morton, Geo. 
Clymer, Jas. Smith, Geo. Taylor, James Wilson, Geo. Ross. Dela- 
ware — Caesar Rodney, Geo. Read. New York — Wm. Floyd, Phil. 
Livingston, Fran's Lewis, Lewis Morris. New Jersey — Richd. 
Stockton, Jno. Witherspoon, Fra's Hopkins, John Hart, Abra. 
Clark. Massachusetts Bay — Saml. Adams, John Adams, Robt. 
Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry. New Hampshire — Josiah Bartlett, 
Wm. Whipple. Matthew Thornton. Rhode Island and Providence, 
etc. — Step. Hopkins, William Ellery. Connecticut — Roger Sher- 
man, Saml. Huntington, Wm. Williams, Oliver Wolcott. 



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